Don't Cha
by AWildeRomantic
Summary: AU SamJack. Charlie never died and Jack never got involved in the Stargate program, but when his friends try to set him up with a certain blond astrophysicist, Jack finds his life taking some unexpected turns...
1. Chapter 1

A/N – Mmm…yes, so this is an idea I've been playing with for a while now. I love alternate realities, and have been wanting to do a "what if" about if Charlie hadn't died. The main thing I realized was that jack wouldn't have been in the Stargate program…so yeah, I hope you enjoy this one :)

Oh, and is it just me, or is it really confusing that Jack also calls Kowalski "Charlie" ?

* * *

Chapter 1

"Don't forget to get more of my lunch stuff, ok?"

Jack nodded. "Don't worry, kiddo, I'll pick some up."

"Thanks, Dad." Charlie grinned at his father before getting out of the car and slinging his backpack over one shoulder.

Jack watched through the window of the car as Charlie bounded up the front walk to the door, which Sarah was holding open. She looked up for a brief moment and their eyes met, but Jack looked quickly away, starting the car almost a little too hastily. He wasn't in the mood to communicate with his ex-wife today in any way shape or form. He gritted his teeth as he drove away, trying to think of anything other than her.

At the last minute, just short of missing the correct turn, Jack remembered that he had to pick up his uniform from the dry-cleaners. Kowalski had called him the other day and all but ordered him to come to the Air Force banquet thingy they were having downtown and just because he had nothing better to do with Charlie at Sarah's, Jack unwittingly agreed to go. Besides, he hadn't seen his old buddies in a while and could do with some catching up.

Standing in the astoundingly long line at the dry cleaners Jack pondered how much it would actually be worth it to go. He always felt a little awkward at those things, maybe a bit guilty even when reminded so blatantly that his friends were still out serving their country while he himself enjoyed a relatively quiet retirement.

But Kowalski had promised that it wouldn't be too boring, and they could even go hit the bars afterwards so what the hell.

Back at home he switched on a hockey game while making a late lunch. The house always seemed empty when Charlie wasn't there…slapping together a sandwich Jack found himself wishing vaguely for the millionth time that he got to see Charlie more than every other week, but he was sure that Sarah probably felt exactly the same way.

Jack finished his lunch and the game, then went for a jog before coming back to take a shower and get ready for the banquet. He was a little surprised to find that his old uniform still fit him, though allowed himself a little pride that he'd managed to keep in such good shape.

After making sure each ribbon was in the right place he gave his reflection in the mirror a curt nod and half-hearted salute. "Here goes nothing…"

* * *

The conference center was swarming with Air Force personnel in their dress blues, but Jack had no trouble spotting Kowalski and Ferretti, standing near the bar and talking with a group of people. As he drew closer Jack could see that all the attention seemed to be on a tall, blond woman who was obviously explaining something interesting and probably way above Jack's head judging by the looks of slack-jawed amazement on the faces of the others.

Jack gave Kowalski a friendly punch in the arm by way of a greeting. "Hey."

"Jack!" Kowalski spun around, grinning broadly. "You made it."

"Yeah…I had nothing better going on." Jack stuck his hands in his pockets and tried to be nonchalant but his own good spirits at seeing his friends again got the better of him. "Ferretti!"

"Hey, Colonel," Ferretti nodded, grinning as well.

Turning back to Kowalski, Jack's eyes momentarily met those of the blonde. She looked back at him with such intensity that he found the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.

"Oh, hey, Carter, come over here," Kowalski said, beckoning to the woman. She strode over. "Jack, this is my lovely and intelligent second in command Major Samantha Carter. Carter, this is my old CO Jack O'Neill."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Major," Jack said, extending one hand to shake Carter's.

"You too," she shot him a dazzling smile. "I've heard a lot about you, Colonel."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "Oh really? Well…don't believe a word of it. I'm really a great guy."

Carter laughed.

"So what's a nice girl like you do working with a guy like Kowalski?" Jack said, elbowing his friend in the ribs as Kowalski made a noise of protest.

"Deep space radar telemetry."

"And that is…?"

"Science stuff," Kowalski supplied. "Carter's even got a PhD in…something…"

Carter rolled her eyes. "Theoretical astrophysics."

"So you're a scientist?" Jack asked. He felt a slight sinking sensation in his stomach; he hated scientists. Usually. But glancing down on the pretence of examining his shoes he caught a glimpse of Samantha Carter's legs and…damn…maybe he could make an exception.

"You got a problem with that, Colonel?" Carter asked, tilting her head to one side.

"Oh no that's fine," Jack said. "I like intelligent women…" A brief flash of embarrassment surged through him and he turned to quickly grab a glass of champagne from the nearest waiter to cover it.

It wasn't until Jack found himself practically pushed into a chair next to Carter at dinner that he realized what Kowalski was up to. That jerk was trying to set him up with another woman now that he'd been divorced for a year. Jack shot a glare at his friend, but the recently promoted lieutenant colonel was busy trying to stick a piece of ice down the back of Ferretti's jacket.

"Those boys…" Carter muttered.

Jack looked back at her, smirking. "They can be quite a handful, can't they? I have to say I've got respect for you for being able to deal with them…"

"Oh, it's not all that bad," she said with a shrug. "We've got a civilian working with us, Daniel Jackson, and he's not nearly as rambunctious. He's more the PhD, sciency type."

"Sounds kinda geeky to me..." Jack muttered. He took a sip of water, and when he glanced back at Sam she was giving him a rather odd look. "What?"

"You say geek like it's a bad thing," Sam leaned in closer, sounding half amused, half defensive. She pointed to herself. "I've got a PhD in astrophysics and you're still talking to me."

"Yeah, but you're..." Jack stopped mid-sentence and held up his hands in surrender. "Ok, point taken. So you and this Jackson guy pull all nighters together?"

Sam grinned at him suggestively. "Oh yeah, I'm the _master_ of all-nighters."

Jack laughed and had to take another sip of his ice cold water. "Still though, Carter, I've got respect for you. 'Specially being cooped up under Cheyenne Mountain with those guys."

"Oh, please," Sam rolled her eyes. "You're not my commanding officer, Colonel."

"Huh?"

She bit her lip and smiled shyly. "You _can_ call me Sam."

"Oh, right. Sam it is then."

As the dinner progressed Jack found himself unwillingly beginning to like Sam more and more. After picking up on the fact that he'd be severely annoyed by any "techno-babble" as he'd unceremoniously dubbed it, she started chattering about motorcycles, a conversation Jack was only too happy to take up.

"Ok so let me get this straight," Jack said, gesturing with a forkful of chocolate cake. "You're in the Air Force. You can fix and ride motorcycles, you've got a PhD…"

"Pick locks, make a mean soufflé, build a bomb…" Sam added, grinning.

Jack rolled his eyes. "What _can't_ you do?"

She thought a moment. "I can't make pancakes," Sam admitted finally. "Seriously. I always burn them or undercook them."

Jack sat back in his seat, laughing as he shoved the cake into his mouth.

After an impossibly boring hour long awards ceremony that Jack all but slept through they finally stood up and got ready to go.

"Hey, Carter," Kowalski called. "We're gonna head over to a bar, you in?"

Sam glanced at Jack and smiled slightly. "Sure, I'll tag along."

They chose a fairly upscale but still noisy and crowded sports bar a few blocks away. As everyone else crowded around a table or the bar Jack and Kowalski went up to get drinks.

"So is Sam, you know, real?" Jack asked as they waited for the bartender. "Or is she the product of some new holograph technology you guys made up?"

Kowalski laughed. "You like her, huh?"

"Sure." Jack glanced back towards Sam who was joking with Ferretti. She was sitting at the bar, slender legs crossed and chin resting on her hands. Jack looked back at Kowalski. "I know what you're trying to do, Charlie, and it's not going to work."

"What?" Kowalski looked up at him innocently. "I'm not trying to do nothin'. Besides, I thought you hated scientists."

"Yeah, but she's not a scientist really," Jack said, squinting and gesturing towards Sam. "She's just a really hot chick who happens to know like, everything."

"And she's great with kids too," Kowalski said, grinning.

"Stop." Jack scowled at him. "She is really nice but I'm just not at _that_ point yet."

"Jack it's been a year, when are you going to be at _that_ point?"

"I don't know, ok, maybe never."

Kowalski stepped closer. "You mean you've still got feelings for Sarah, don't you."

"Kowalski, I don't want to talk about it." Jack gave him a dark look and grabbed a few of the drinks, heading back over to the others.

As Jack sat down Sam must have noticed the faint scowl on his face because she looked over, concerned. "Everything ok?"

"Yeah, Kowalski's just being a pain in the ass."

Sam turned in her seat so she was facing him. "I'm sorry."

"Nah, not your fault he's like that," Jack said, waving one hand. "He's just…well you're smart enough to realize that he's been pushing us together all night."

Sam nodded, looking down at the bar and blushing slightly. "Yeah."

"Well, don't take this too personally but I'm not quite over my divorce yet so…" he let his voice trail off.

Sam looked up at him. "That's fine, really. I'm not going to throw myself at you or anything."

"Good." Jack found himself unable to look at her. "Because it would be a shame for a girl like you to waste her time with an old grump like me."

"Oh," Sam rolled her eyes. "You're not a grump."

"Still, I just don't think I'm quite ready to…"

"I understand."

Was that a touch of disappointment he caught in her voice? Sam's face had changed to an almost unreadable expression and Jack found himself wondering desperately exactly what was going on inside that head of hers. She smiled at him, but he wasn't entirely convinced that everything was all good and well with her. Especially because it certainly wasn't with him.

He couldn't help but notice that as they finished their drinks and then started to filter out, Kowalski kept shooting him half annoyed half disappointed looks.

Jack, Sam and Ferretti were some of the last to leave. Jack frowned to himself as he pulled his jacket on, trying to sort some things out in his head. The couple glasses of beer he'd had weren't helping too much, either.

Before he could change his mind, Jack turned to Sam. "Hey…"

"Yeah?" she looked up from buttoning her own jacket.

Jack took a step closer to her. "You got a phone number?"

* * *

Honestly, what had he been thinking?

Jack lay in bed, eyes closed, trying to fall asleep. The scrap of paper with Sam's phone number was sitting on the nightstand nearby.

"Good luck getting a hold of me, though," she'd said as she'd written it down for him. "I'm usually at the base." As a second thought she'd also written down her cell number as well. Jack was sure that Ferretti would be reporting the news to Kowalski as soon as he got home.

Jack rolled onto his back and found himself wondering what Sarah would say. Damnit! He shouldn't be thinking about that. It sounded a bit cruel to be thinking that it didn't matter what Sarah thought, but it was true. They both knew that they couldn't get back together, it just wouldn't work.

It had only been in the past couple years that their idyllic marriage had gone sour. Maybe things were just getting too stressful or maybe they'd just lost whatever spark they had. All Jack knew was that he and Sarah had started getting in more and more arguments and so, for their own sake and the sake of their son, they decided maybe it was time to end it.

It had been hard on Charlie at first, understanding why they'd done it and getting used to moving back and forth to the two houses every other week. But he'd adapted like most children can, and now accepted his responsibilities solemnly. But both Jack and Sarah knew their son still hung on to the hope that someday they might be a family again.

Jack realized with an unpleasant little twist in his gut that it was his son's reaction he should be worrying about. How would Charlie react if, hypothetically say, Jack started dating someone like Sam?

Annoyed with himself, Jack muttered aloud to stop worrying about it, then pressed his face into the pillow and finally managed to fall asleep.

* * *

A/N - Please review. Reviews are love :D

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

A/N – Thanks for all the reviews!! We're having this terrible snowstorm here in Milwaukee so I've been stuck inside all day and had a chance to get a lot of writing done… Ok, here's a little FAQ of stuff that hasn't been mentioned yet and may or may not be mentioned later:

Yes, Teal'c is going to be in this one. Just not yet.

Charlie is about 14-15 ish.

It's set in Season 4, as you'll be able to gather from this chappie if you're very clever

* * *

Chapter 2

It took Jack until Wednesday to try calling Sam, and then she wasn't even home. Finally on Friday morning he managed to get ahold of her, though she sounded slightly groggy when she answered the phone.

"Hey it's Jack…I didn't wake you up did I?"

He could hear Sam yawning. "No no I'd gotten up a little while ago. Sorry, I'm just getting over jet lag."

"Jet lag?" Jack raised his eyebrows and sat down on the couch, the phone balanced between shoulder and ear.

"Uhuh." She yawned again. "We got back from Russia last night."

"And…what were you doing in Russia?" Jack asked, though he was sure that he could already guess the answer.

"Classified."

Yep.

"So…hey…I was just calling to see if you wanted to go get some coffee or something." Jack said. "But if you're too tired…"

"No that sounds great actually."

"Excellent. So how about that little place across from the movie theater downtown? How long do you need to get ready?"

"Give me a little bit, I'm still in my PJ's," Sam said, chuckling. "Let's say eleven?"

"M'kay, see you then."

Twenty minutes later Jack was walking into the coffee shop. Sam wasn't there yet so he bought a cup of coffee and headed over to an empty table to sit down. She came in a minute later, got her own drink and walked over to him. Up close she looked even more tired than she'd sounded over the phone.

"Busy week?" Jack asked, tilting his head to one side.

Sam nodded slowly. "Yeah. Rough one."

"How're Kowalski and them?"

"They're fine," Sam was staring down at her coffee mug with a gloomy expression.

Jack leaned in over the small table, reaching out to put a hand on her arm. "Sam…did something happen?"

"I'm just…" she looked up. "I'm trying to think of a way I can tell you that isn't revealing any classified info…A close friend of mine was killed a couple days ago…and…" she took in a deep breath and Jack found himself silently praying that she wasn't about to burst into tears. "And I haven't really had a chance to feel sad about it yet."

"I'm sorry, Sam…" Jack murmured, closing his fingers around hers. He squeezed her hand. "What was your friend's name?"

"Martouf…" Sam murmured, then looked up suddenly, her expression almost guilty as though she wished she hadn't told him that.

Jack gave her hand one last squeeze then let it go. "So shall we talk about something cheerful?"

"Yeah." Sam sniffed and straightened up in her chair. "How was your week?"

"Eh…pretty boring…" Jack shrugged. "I went to my son, Charlie's, baseball games on Wednesday and that was alright. My ex was there though and things got a tad awkward."

"I know how that can be," Sam said, nodding. "A man I used to be engaged to worked with us a couple years ago. Didn't really help that he was a complete lunatic."

Jack grinned in an attempt to lighten the mood. "You got a thing for crazy people, Sam?"

"Why?" she chuckled. "Are you insane or something?"

"Oh yes, I'm off the charts." Jack made a little flapping motion with one hand and got another quiet laugh out of Sam. "No…actually I'm relatively sane for a guy who used to be black ops and spent too much time in a POW camp in the Middle East."

"But you have a family though."

"Had. I had a family. Now I've got a son and an ex-wife." Jack made a face. "I'd like to have a family again, but…" His voice trailed off and he found himself staring out the window for a moment before turning back to Sam. "What?"

"Nothing I was just thinking about all the times I've tried to start a family and failed miserably."

"Heey…" Jack reached over to lightly punch her shoulder. "I thought we were going to try and talk about happy stuff."

"Oh, I guess we were…"

"You wanna see a movie or something?"

Sam shrugged. "There isn't really anything playing."

"We could go back to my place and watch…" Jack racked his brains for whatever DVD's were in his collection. "Groundhog Day or something."

"No!" Sam's eyes widened. "No Groundhog Day."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "You got something against Bill Murray?"

"No it's just that movie…uhh…" Sam shuddered then grinned. "Sorry, I'm just being weird…"

Jack opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment Sam's cell phone rang. She shot Jack an apologetic look before answering it.

"Carter…" Sam sighed heavily. "Hi, sir. Uhuh…Daniel what?!…oh, God…yeah, of course I'll be there as soon as I can," She glanced at Jack with a worried expression on her face and he gave her a sympathetic look. "No if you must know, Colonel, right now I'm at a coffee shop with Jack…yes, your Jack...sir, I'll see you in a couple minutes..." Sam clicked the phone shut and stood up, her brow furrowed as she pulled her jacket on.

"You have to go?" Jack stood up as well, looking concerned.

"Yeah...Daniel's missing..." Sam opened her mouth as though to say more, then shook her head and concentrated on buttoning her jacket.

Jack reached out to lightly touch her arm. "Jesus...I hope you find him ok...you have any idea of where he is?"

"Sort of," Sam gave him an oddly calculating look. She took his hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. "I'll give you a call when I'm back, ok?"

"Back?" Jack gave her a strange look. What was that supposed to mean? "You going somewhere?"

"Oh, uhm…" Sam stuttered. "I just meant back from the base. Back at home. Ok?"

"Yeah, sure. It was nice seeing you again."

"You too." Sam smiled lightly at him then turned and hurried out of the café.

* * *

Saturday night Sarah dropped Charlie off and Jack pulled his son into a tight embrace the moment he was through the door.

"Hey, soldier, how was your week?"

"It was great," Charlie said, good naturedly wrestling himself away from his dad. "Mom says hi and that you should call her sometime."

Jack nodded. "Ok, if I have time."

"Dad, she wants to talk to you."

"I know." Jack reached out and ruffled his son's hair. "I'll call her, ok."

Though the anxious waiting for Sam to call was always lurking in the back of Jack's mind, at least this was his week with Charlie so he could keep his mind of Sam by spending time with his son. They did the things they usually did, playing baseball, visiting museums, watching the Simpsons…but then during Thursday's episode the phone rang and Jack answered it to hear Sam on the other end, sounding a bit more cheerful than she'd been the last time they talked.

Switching to the cordless phone, Jack grinned an apology at Charlie and went into his bedroom.

"So how'd the thing with what's his name turn out?" Jack asked, sitting on his bed and leaning back against the headboard.

"Daniel? Oh it turned out alright. He's fine."

"So you're doing better now?"

"Yeah. I'm just glad this week's mess has been sorted out…the general's giving us some down time so that's nice. I've got some work I need to finish up."

Jack chuckled. "Geeze…I didn't think deep space radar telemetry could be so…intense." He could practically see Sam rolling her eyes.

"Oh, you'd be surprised."

"You want some advice, Sam?"

"Get a better cover story, right? Yeah my dad said the same thing."

They talked for another forty five minutes at least. When Jack went back out into the living room he found the television off and Charlie thumbing through a magazine.

"You finish all your homework?" Jack asked, setting the phone back in its holder.

Charlie was looking up at him suspiciously. "Uhuh. Who was that?"

"A friend."

"Anyone I know?"

Jack shook his head. "No, you haven't met her." He hated himself for saying it seconds after the 'her' left his mouth. Damn pronouns. Why did they have to have gender anyway?

"Her?" Charlie wrinkled his nose. "Aww, Dad…"

"Hey, she's just a friend, alright, kiddo? She's Kowalski's second in command." Jack saw that his son was still giving him a disgusted look. "What?"

"Dad," Charlie rolled his eyes. "Guys and girls can't just be friends. Why would they wanna be?"

Jack grinned. "So that Claire that you hang out with…"

"DaaaAAaaad!"

"Charlie, when you get older you'll find out that it's perfectly possible for guys and girls to be just friends." Jack said, sitting down on the end of the couch.

"And talk on the phone for an hour?"

"Yes."

Charlie rolled his eyes and threw the magazine sullenly down on the coffee table. "What about Mom?"

"Your mother is still a friend of mine, yes."

"That's not what I meant."

Jack sighed heavily. "Then what do you mean?"

"Are you guys going to ever get back together?"

"Charlie…" Jack looked away, across the room to the window.

"Why not?" Charlie folded his arms over his chest, scowling when Jack turned back to look at him. "You don't love her anymore, do you?"

"Charlie!" Jack snapped, involuntarily getting to his feet.

"Don't yell at me! It's the truth, you know it."

"No it's not."

"Then you do still love her?"

Jack sighed heavily, shaking his head. "That's not a question I can give a simple yes or no answer to."

Charlie pursed his lips together, staring at the floor and obviously trying hard not to cry.

"Hey there…" Jack said, the sight of his son so upset having a calming effect on him. He sat back down, reaching out to put a hand on Charlie's arm.

Charlie shrugged Jack's hand away, turning his back to him. "I'm not crying," he said resolutely.

"I know you're not," Jack said.

"I don't like this, Dad." Charlie turned back around to face Jack.

"I don't like it either," Jack said nodding. "Trust me, kiddo, if I could change it I would. But you have to trust me also when I tell you that if your mother and I tried to stay together we might just be even more miserable."

"Because you don't love each other."

Jack sighed. They'd been over this again and again ever since the first time he'd sat down with Charlie a year ago to explain what was going to happen. And each time it didn't seem to get any easier to have this discussion, whether it was in Charlie's room or the office of an attorney.

"We don't love each other the same way that we used to." Jack said as gently as possible.

Charlie sighed, wiping one hand forcefully over his eyes. "What's Mom going to say about you and this girl?"

"Just let me worry about that, ok?"

"But will you get mad if I tell her?"

"No…" Jack looked at his son seriously. "But I'd rather you not."

"Ok."

Jack ruffled Charlie's hair. "It's time for bed, soldier, you've got school tomorrow."

"Awww…"

"No moaning or groaning! Go on."

"Whatever!" Charlie stood up. "G'night, Dad."

"Night, Charlie."

* * *

Jack was a little surprised when Kowalski showed up in the early afternoon a couple days later with a case of beer.

"Yeah, we're on some downtime, I'm kinda surprised that you and Carter weren't doing anything together," he said, grinning and nudging Jack in the ribs with one elbow.

Jack scowled. "What is it with you? What is it with everyone, come to think of it. Has it become illegal for two people of the opposite sex to be friends?"

"Jack Jack Jack," Kowalski said, shaking his head and setting the beer on the kitchen table. "A guy like you is not just _friends_ with a girl like Samantha Carter. Some might be, but not you."

"I'm going to assume for your sake that that made sense." Jack rubbed the bridge of his nose. "And do enlighten me here…why can't I just be friends with her?"

"Because you have been blessed, Colonel Jack O'Neill –"

"Retired!"

"Samantha Carter is a young, sexy woman who is totally into you. Own it."

Jack looked up at him, scowling. "Charles Kowalski that has got to be one of the most insensitive things you've ever said. Is that seriously all that you think of her as?"

"Of course not! She's a damn good second in command and I'd rather have her watching my six in combat than any of the marines –"

"Combat, when are you ever in combat?"

"Hypothetical." Kowalski waved one hand. "But my point is when your second happens to be tall and blond with a great ass –"

"Enough already!"

"Fine, fine. We won't talk about her anymore." Kowalski snuck in a smirk. "But if anything happens with you two…"

"You'll be the first to know, trust me."

"Great...now let's crack open the beer…"


	3. Chapter 3

A/N – I realize there may be a slight anachronism here, because I don't know when the song "Don't Cha" actually came out in relation to when Season 4 of Stargate is set. But I'm using my creative license here, so don't get all touchy about it please :P

* * *

Chapter 3

"So, Jack, is it?" Daniel asked, glancing over at Sam. It was about two seconds after they'd both stepped into the elevator on their way down to the briefing room.

Sam looked at him, frowning. "Huh?"

"You were humming."

"Oh…" she could feel herself blushing. "Sorry."

"Don't be. There's absolutely nothing wrong with having a boyfriend."

She was outraged now, and glared at the archaeologist who was calmly sipping his coffee. "Daniel! Jack O'Neill is not my boyfriend. He's just a friend of mine who happens to be male."

The elevator came to a stop and they both got off. Daniel rolled his eyes and leaned a little closer to Sam. "A friend of yours who you constantly talk about and moon over…"

"I do not moon over Jack!"

"Oh, but you do, Carter, you do." Kowalski and Teal'c had appeared out of nowhere, Kowalski grinning as he caught onto what Sam and Daniel were talking about. He elbowed the large jaffa in the side. "Tell her, T."

"Indeed you do, MajorCarter."

Was the whole world turning against her?! Sam threw her hands in the air in disgust. "Do you guys have nothing better to talk about than my love life?"

"Aww…come on, Carter…" Kowalski walked over and put an arm around Sam's shoulders, which she promptly tried to shrug off. "I went to all the trouble to set you and Jack up, the least you can do is provide us with the nice little details."

"There are no nice little details except that I don't get to spend any time with him because saving the galaxy keeps getting in the way."

Kowalski chuckled, nodding. "Yeah…pity Jack isn't on SG-1 or something, then you wouldn't have to worry about not telling him anything."

"Oh yes, but then I wouldn't have any chance of dating him whatsoever," Sam pointed out as they walked into the briefing room where General Hammond was already waiting for them.

"Dating who?" The general asked, looking bemused.

Sam rolled her eyes. "No one, sir."

"Jack O'Neill." Kowalski said, then looked at Sam. "Is not no one."

"All right all right," Hammond said, chuckling.

"General Hammond, I do believe that DanielJackson and ColonelKowalski were harassing MajorCarter about her boyfriend," Teal'c said, unable to restrain himself from getting another jab in.

Sam glared at him. "He's not my boyfriend."

"Ok, people, lets settle down here," Hammond said. "For my sake at least _try_ to act professionally for a few minutes."

"Yes, sir," Kowalski said, sitting down forcefully at his seat at the briefing table and shooting a grin over at Sam, who was still sulking.

* * *

Daniel looked up from the artifacts he was uncovering to glance at Sam, who was standing nearby, hands resting on the butt of her P90. "…Pussycat Dolls?"

"What?" Sam blushed furiously. "I was not."

"Were too. You were definitely humming Pussycat Dolls."

"The fact that you recognized it, Jackson, is what disturbs me," Kowalski said from nearby. "I mean, you're not supposed to recognize that sort of thing unless you've got a teenage daughter."

"Oh, and what ever would you be insinuating, Kowalski?" Daniel said, turning to smile sweetly at Kowalski.

"You tell me, _Doctor _Jackson."

Sam rolled her eyes, straightening up to take her hat off and run her hand through her hair. "Sir, I know you've got a huge crush on Daniel and all but I don't think he's gay."

"Hey! That is _this_ close to insubordination, Carter!" Kowalski growled, wagging a finger at her threateningly before shooting another glare at Daniel, who smiled again.

"Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me…" the archaeologist sang about an octave deeper than the original.

"Oh, beautiful, Daniel, just beautiful," Sam laughed at her friend as she readjusted her hat. "Anyway, I'm going to go see what Teal'c is up to. Sir, have fun trying to woo Daniel but I think he's got a little more class than what you're offering." She turned and set her hat firmly back on her head before stalking off through the grass.

"You're one to talk, Carter!" Kowalski shouted after her, then after a beat added hastily, "And I'm not in love with Jackson!"

* * *

Jack looked over at where Charlie was doing his homework. "Hey, kiddo…"

"What, Dad?" Charlie sounded a little exasperated.

"Would you mind if I had Sam over for dinner?"

Charlie rolled his eyes and looked back down at his work, shrugging. "She's your girlfriend. I don't care."

"Well…we're not exactly dating…per se…" Jack said, shifting around on the couch and trying not to spill the glass of beer that he'd so precariously balanced on the arm.

"Then why'd you bother asking me?" Charlie asked, eyes narrowed.

"Because this involves you…"

"So you _are_ dating her. Dad…" Another eye roll, this time accompanied by a heavy sigh. "Just make up your mind, ok?…I don't care…she can come for dinner…"

"Great." Jack stood up, half turning towards the phone. "I'll…give her a call…"

* * *

Sam looked up at Jack's house with a little anxiety as she tried not to twist her ankle getting out of the car, silently cursing the high heels she'd chosen to worn. Standing in the golden halo of a streetlamp she checked the address on the piece of paper in her hands before striding up the front walk as confidently as she could. The house was nice, comfortably small and all spread out on one floor with woods surrounding it.

She rang the doorbell and it was answered by Jack, looking all preened and rather anxious in a loose button up shirt and khakis.

"Hey," he said, grinning and stepping aside to let her in. "You find the place alright?"

"Uhuh," Sam looked around as she took off her jacket and handed it to him.

Jack couldn't help but stare for a moment. "Wow…you look great."

"Oh…thanks…" Sam looked down, blushing slightly.

A brown haired boy with a strong resemblance to Jack poked his head around the corner, eyeing his father and Sam with narrowed eyes.

"Oh, hey," Jack put a hand on Sam's lower back, gesturing towards the boy. "Sam, this is my son Charlie, I think I've mentioned him."

"Yep," Sam held her hand out to Charlie and he stepped forward suspiciously to shake it. "Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, you too," Charlie replied rather coldly. He glanced at Jack. "Is dinner ready yet?"

"Uhuh," Jack motioned for Sam to follow him. "Let's head into the dinning room shall we?"

It took Charlie a while to warm up to Sam and throughout dinner he watched her warily over the top of his plate. Jack seemed to notice the tension forming and tried to get Charlie to talk, but the boy would only answer any questions with little half sentences.

After the dessert had been cleared away Jack gave Charlie a meaningful look and Charlie rolled his eyes before scuttling off in the direction of his room. Sam and Jack went to sit on the couch.

"So, yeah, sorry about the kid." Jack said. "He's just being a little cranky."

Sam smiled, shaking her head. "It's no problem. It must be hard for him…I mean, the divorce and then…"

"And then suddenly seeing another woman in the house?" Jack tilted his head to one side.

"Yeah." Sam looked up and their eyes met for a moment; a slight flush rose in her cheeks.

Jack leaned forward, smirking. "Something wrong?"

"Not exactly _wrong_, per se…" Sam scooted a little closer, eyes half lidded. They stared at each other for a moment before Sam reached up, lightly touching her fingertips to his cheek as she leaned in and brushed her lips over his. When Jack didn't respond she sat back, looking a little embarrassed. "It's uhm…getting late, I should probably be going…"

"Sam…" Jack stood up with her. "When are you going to be off next?"

She shrugged. "No idea…a few days, probably, maybe a couple weeks…I could always…"

"Call me?" Jack suggested hopefully, reaching out to lightly touch her shoulder.

"Sure, if you want me to."

"Of course I do."

They walked back to the front hall and Sam pulled on her jacket, staring fixedly at her shoes. She reached for the doorknob but Jack caught her wrist. Sam looked up at him questioningly as he pulled her to him, dipping his head to place a light but searing kiss on her lips.

Sam laughed quietly as she pulled away. "Good night, Jack."

"Night, Sam."

"Is she gone?" Charlie asked, walking back out into the kitchen where his father was loading up the dishwasher.

Jack looked over. "Huh? Yeah. Why? Didn't you like her?"

"No."

Sighing, Jack closed the dishwasher and walked over to his son. "Why?"

"I dunno, she just seems…fake, I guess. Like she's hiding something."

"Of course she's hiding something, kiddo," Jack said with a roll of his eyes. "She works for a top secret military project. I'm sure she's hiding plenty of things."

Charlie scowled, folding his arms over his chest. "Yeah, and I don't like that."

Jack sighed, walking over to the kitchen table and sitting down. He looked up at his son. "I think it'll get better once you get to know her."

"Why do you even bother asking me if I like her then?!" Charlie cried, throwing his hands in the air. "It's not like it matters to you."

"Charlie."

"She's not Mom, Dad."

"I know she's not," Jack said, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "But, Charlie, the only person who is Mom is Mom."

"That's my point." Charlie said, pouting slightly. He wrinkled his nose and spoke in a sarcastic tone. "_Permission to speak freely, sir_?"

"Not if you're going to take that tone with me." Jack stood up and furiously grabbed the rag from where it was draped over the faucet, then wiping down the table though it was already clean.

"Fine." Charlie turned and stomped out of the kitchen.

Jack sighed as he heard his son's bedroom door slam a moment later.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N – So yar, next chapter, finally! A little drama, a little fluff, and Charlie kinda sorta starts to realize that Sam isn't so bad. Kinda. And not until the last couple paragraphs. :P but it gets better, don't worry.

* * *

Chapter 4

Weeks passed and Jack continued to see Sam off and on, whenever she had time off from work. Though Jack had been reluctant to admit it at first, he was starting to get used to her presence in his life and had even began thinking of Sam as his "girlfriend", though the whole idea didn't really strike home until Jack went to pick up Charlie from Sarah's one Sunday morning.

"Do you want to come in for a minute?" Sarah asked when she answered the door. "Charlie isn't quite packed yet and I just made a pot of coffee…"

_She must have been planning this_. Jack thought bitterly. He hesitated for a moment, then found himself agreeing. "Uhm…sure." Unzipping his jacket he followed his ex-wife into the house and through to the kitchen.

"So…" Sarah said as they sat down at the table and she set out two mugs of coffee. "Charlie said you're seeing someone."

"Oh, here we go," Jack rolled his eyes, sitting back in his chair.

Sarah regarded him over the rim of her mug. "Something wrong?"

"Oh no, no no," Jack said, waving his hand as he reached for his own mug. "I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop, is all. I know Charlie doesn't seem to like her too much, so I'm just curious what he said to you."

"He said she's in the military," Sarah murmured, looking down at the table. "That she works for some top-secret program."

"Uhuh."

Sarah looked up at him and sighed heavily. "Jack, I'm trying to put my personal feelings aside for you when I say this, but for God's sake be careful."

"Be careful?" Jack raised his eyebrows. "Sarah, she's not going to give me rabies."

"That's not what I meant. You don't know what she does, and I swear if Charlie ends up in danger…"

"Sarah!" Jack snapped, narrowing his eyes. "I would never put Charlie in danger and neither would Sam."

Sarah kept pushing though, her brow furrowed in a scowl. "You don't know what sort of things this woman is involved in…!"

"You don't even know her!"

"Dad."

Both adults looked over to see Charlie standing in the doorway to the kitchen, his backpack slung over one shoulder. He had a mildly annoyed look on his face and was holding his CD player and headphones in one hand.

"Are we going?" he asked.

Jack nodded and stood up. "Yeah." He glanced at Sarah as she too got to her feet. "I guess I'll see you around."

Sarah nodded, then escorted them to the door where she said goodbye to Charlie.

After they'd gotten into the car Charlie turned to Jack. "What were you and Mom fighting about?"

"Sam." Jack glanced at his son. "What'd you say to Mom?"

Charlie shrugged. "Just that you're dating some chick who works for a top secret military program. That's all, I swear."

"Right."

Charlie turned towards the window, untangling the cord of his headphones. "Oh, I'm sleeping over at Tim's on Tuesday. We're gonna watch the game."

Jack frowned. "Not on a school night you're not."

"No, we've got off on Wednesday. The freshman've got that testing they have to do, so everyone else has off. Check the school website."

"I believe you," Jack drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, waiting for the light to change. "Are you going to need a ride?"

"Over there, yeah," Charlie nodded. "Tim's mom can give me a ride back though."

* * *

Tim lived across town and when Jack finally got back home it was starting to get late. He hurried inside to quickly change into some nicer clothing before rushing back out to a restaurant downtown where Sam was already waiting for him.

"So sorry…" he panted, sitting down across from her. "I had to drop Charlie off at a friend's house and it took longer than I thought…"

"It's ok. You're here and that's what matters." Sam smiled as Jack got to his feet again, leaning over the table to kiss her. "I haven't ordered yet."

"Great." Jack sat back down and opened a menu. "How're things up at the ol' mountain?"

Sam chuckled. "Still classified. Kowalski says 'hi'."

"Ahh...you'll have to give him a good punch in the shoulder for me."

Sam gave him a look, folding her arms on the table. "He's my commanding officer, Jack, I don't think that would be a good idea."

"Of course." Jack smirked and hid behind his menu to hide from the smoldering look Sam was giving him. A moment later he glanced up and caught Sam still staring at him. "What?"

"Nothing." Sam blushed, looking down.

Jack smirked, then reached over, gently brushing the backs of his fingers against her cheek. "Has anyone told you how cute you are?"

"Cute?" Sam raised her eyebrows.

"Sexy too."

"Mmm…" Sam brought her hand up to cover Jack's. "Feeling a bit flirty, are we?"

"Oh, I've been feeling 'a bit flirty' since we first met, Sam."

She turned her head to press a kiss to his palm, her eyes never leaving his. "So…is Charlie at his friend's house all night?"

Something stirred deep in the pit of Jack's stomach and he found himself leaning a little closer to Sam. "Sleeping over, yeah."

Sam smirked, her eyes sparkling. She twined her fingers with his and raised her eyebrows in a suggestive expression.

"You off work tomorrow?" Jack found himself asking. He'd told himself weeks ago that he wouldn't push things, wouldn't drag this relationship along so fast that it burned out, but she was looking so damn hot and her skin felt so smooth under his fingers…

"Yeah."

"Excellent." Jack spotted the waiter heading their way and lowered his hand to the table, smiling meaningfully at Sam.

* * *

He could remember the first time Sarah had come home with him after one of their dates, could remember the twisting anticipation as the door had clicked shut behind him. He'd found her attractive, obviously, and still did but …she wasn't Sam. She didn't have the same toned beauty that came from years of hard, military training, her eyes weren't that same deep blue color.

And she wasn't the one looking at him with such a look of desire that he found all the blood in his body immediately rushing south.

Jack stepped forward wordlessly, reaching out to slide Sam's jacket off her shoulders and hang it on the coat rack before doing the same with his, never taking his eyes off her. The only light was filtering in from the kitchen down the hall, backlighting Sam so she seemed to be surrounded by a faint, glowing aura.

He slipped his arms around her waist, drawing her close and bending his head to press a searing kiss to her lips. Her arms came up to loosely encircle his neck and they stood there for a long moment, absorbed in each other, forgetting that they were standing in the drafty front hall.

Still holding Sam, Jack turned a little to the left, pushing her back a few inches and up against the wall, his hand shooting out to brace himself against the cool paneling. Sam made a soft noise, her mouth opening, yielding to his as he pushed against her insistently.

A slight shudder ran through Jack as he realized that for the first time since the divorce 'satisfaction' would mean something other than jerking off alone in his room at night. He chided himself mentally for being so crass, but honestly, what's a guy to do when he's making out with a blond in the middle of his front hall?

Front hall. Right. Had to do something about that…

Reluctant as he was to, Jack pulled away, staring into her eyes with a look of such intensity that it made a blush rise in her cheeks. He jerked his head to the side, whispering "bedroom."

Sam nodded, following him down the hall to his room. Jack quickly pulled his shoes off, tossing them unceremoniously into the corner of the room and when he looked up he saw that Sam had perched herself on the end of his bed, slipping her own shoes off then looking up at him, smirking faintly. God, it had been too long.

For a moment Jack considered turning on the light, but he decided that he liked the way Sam looked in the half-glow from the street light outside. Returning the seductive grin she was giving him, Jack walked over, kneeling next to her. Sam giggled and scooted back until she was pressed up against the headboard.

"Gotcha." Jack murmured, leaning closer to lightly kiss the side of her neck. Sam shivered, arching her back a little as Jack reached behind her to unzip her dress. He stared down at her intently as he tugged at the garment, sliding the thin straps off over her shoulders, slowly revealing, bit-by-bit, what seemed to be endless miles of creamy white skin.

He got it as far as her hips and then Sam shifted to kick it the rest of the way off, reaching up to unbutton Jack's shirt.

Jack trailed his fingertips down her neck, tracing the faint line of a scar on her collarbone, then daring to move a little further down, touching the swell of one breast where it showed above her dark, lacy bra. A moment later he found himself tracing another scar, jagged and obviously from a deep cut, that crossed her ribcage just below her breasts.

"What's that from?" he asked, looking up at her.

Sam opened her mouth, then closed it again, frowning slightly. "I can't tell you," she said finally.

"You can't tell me?" Jack raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah…" Sam ran her fingers through his hair, smiling. "The circumstances are highly classified."

"Ooh, right. You sure I'm not going to get into trouble for looking at it?"

Sam chuckled, tossing his shirt off to the side and running her hands down his chest. "Oh, my Dad might have a thing or two to say to you, but the government shouldn't care."

"Your dad, huh," Jack snorted. "I'm terrified."

Sam giggled and nipped at his ear as she slid her hands down to the waistline of his pants. "You should be."

* * *

It was just after midnight when Charlie stepped through he front door, and he was surprised to find the house dark and silent save for the single light in the kitchen. His dad didn't usually go to bed yet, and Charlie had expected to find him in the living room watching TV.

Tim had gotten sick, and while he'd tried his best to stick it out, his mother had finally decided that tonight probably wasn't the best night to have a sleep over and had driven Charlie home.

"Dad?" Taking off his coat and dropping it on the floor with his bag, Charlie padded into the house. He thought maybe his dad was reading in bed, and so walked down the hall, opening the door to his father's room and sticking his head in.

It was dark. Charlie could make out the shape of his father lying beneath the covers, but there was someone else there too. Charlie's heart skipped a beat and he squinted, shifting a little further into the room. For a moment he thought, prayed that it was his mom, but then he saw that it was only Sam, fast asleep and tucked snugly up against his dad.

Charlie felt a flush rise in his cheeks and he quickly backed out of the room, shutting the door quietly and hurrying down the hall to his own room. Falling face first onto his bed he buried his face in the pillow, disappointment welling in him to the point where he felt tears pricking the corners of his eyes.

* * *

He got up before the adults and sat down at the kitchen table, folding his arms and scowling at the tabletop. Minutes later he could hear a door opening, and his dad and Sam laughing quietly as they came into the kitchen.

"Charlie! Hey, kiddo, when'd you get back?" Jack asked cheerfully. He'd already gotten dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and walked over to ruffle Charlie's hair affectionately. Sam, who was wearing some of Jack's too-large sweatpants and a grey air force t-shirt sat down on the other side of the table. Charlie scowled at her.

"About midnight. Tim got sick. His mom drove me home."

Jack moved over to the cabinets and started getting stuff out to make pancakes. "Oh, you should have called. I could have picked you up."

"Whatever." Charlie narrowed his eyes at the way Sam was watching Jack.

"Well, hey, since you're home today maybe we should all go do something," Jack suggested, not noticing the annoyance radiating from his son. "You know…something fun…"

"I've got homework." Charlie grumbled, abruptly getting to his feet.

Jack turned. "That won't take you all day will it? You'll have time to do something."

"I said I've got homework!" Charlie turned and stomped out of the kitchen.

Jack slowly set the pan he was holding down, exchanging a frown with Sam. "I'll be right back…" he hurried out of the kitchen and into the living room, where Charlie was sulking on the couch. "Hey, what's your problem this morning?"

Charlie glared up at him. "What's _she_ doing here?"

"She's here because I want her to be here, now would you just stop being so defensive? If you'd just give Sam a chance I know the two of you could get along."

"I don't want to give Sam a chance." Charlie grabbed the sports section of the newspaper vehemently.

"Fine!" Jack threw his hands in the air. He could feel his temper rising and didn't feel like having an all-out fight in front of Sam, so he left his son to sulk and returned to the kitchen.

Sam gave him a worried look and got to her feet, following him as he went to lean on the counter top. "Maybe I should go…" she said quietly.

"No." Jack turned, putting his hands on her shoulders. "You don't have to go. Charlie's just in a bad mood."

"He's always in a bad mood when I'm around. I just wish there was something I could do…" Sam sighed sadly, leaning against Jack. "Maybe I should try talking to him."

"Maybe. But give him a chance to calm down, otherwise I don't think either of you'll get much out of the conversation."

After breakfast, Sam went out into the living room where Charlie was still sitting, homework open in his lap though he wasn't working on it.

"Hey," Sam said in response to the scowl he shot her. "You busy?"

Charlie picked up his pencil, looking down. "Yes."

Sam walked over and sat next to him on the couch anyway. "Think you could take a break for a minute?"

"What do you want?" Charlie asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Well…I'd like you to not hate me, for one thing," Sam replied, folding her hands in her lap.

"I don't hate you." Charlie looked away from her. "I just don't like you either."

Sam exhaled slowly. He certainly was his father's son. "Look, I know this is all pretty tough for you…"

"What would you know about it?"

"When I was about fifteen my mom died," Sam said slowly, tilting her head to one side. "Now my dad never remarried, but he did try the whole dating thing a couple of times. I remember how difficult and sometimes upsetting it was to see him with a woman who wasn't my mom…and I know that it must be even harder for you with your mom still alive."

"Yeah." Charlie tossed his homework onto the coffee table. "Because you know what? My mom still loves my dad and you're just getting in the way."

The comment stung Sam a little, and she was unsure of how to respond to something like that. "I'm sorry," she said finally. "I don't really know what to tell you. But…I would like it if we could try to be friends."

Charlie said nothing, staring down at the floor.

"Please? I think it would be easier for us if we could try that."

Charlie looked up at her slowly. "And if Dad wants to get back together with Mom would you stop him?"

Sam stared at him for a moment. That certainly wasn't the response she'd expect from most boys his age. "Charlie, part of me caring so much about your father is that I want him to do what would make him happy. So I guess hypothetically if that ever did happen…no I wouldn't try to stop him."

"Ok." Charlie's hard expression relaxed a little as he reached for his homework.

Sam smiled tightly, taking that for as much acceptance as she would get from him. Standing up, she went to rejoin Jack in the kitchen.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N – Well, I have to say that the tables really turn in this chapter and things start getting even more interesting. I hope you like it :D

* * *

Chapter 5

There was a noticeable change in Charlie's behavior over the next couple weeks. Jack had no idea what Sam had said to Charlie, but it must have had some impact on the boy. While he wasn't completely ok with his dad's new girlfriend yet, at least he wasn't glaring at her anytime she walked past him, and the hostility was beginning to melt away.

One Saturday afternoon the three of them were walking through an all but deserted park. Sam had gotten some unexpected time off, though as usual she hadn't said a word to Jack as to why.

As they walked, Charlie in front and the two adults just behind, Jack kept shooting Sam looks out of the corner of his eye. Finally she rolled her eyes and reached out, taking his hand in hers. Jack grinned and stepped closer to her, leaning over to place a light kiss on her lips.

Charlie had turned around at that exact moment and made a face. "Ewww…"

"Hey!" Jack glowered good-naturedly at his son. "Down in front. Keep your eyes on the road."

"Whatever." Charlie turned around again. "We should get a dog."

"A dog?" Jack raised his eyebrows.

"You know…four legs, fur, tail, barks a lot?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "I know what a dog is. What brought that on?"

"So I have something to do while –"

"Excuse me, Major Carter?"

All three of them stopped and turned around to face the man in a dark suit who had appeared seemingly out of no where. A slight frown crossed Sam's face and she stepped forward, unconsciously moving between the man and Jack. Charlie walked forward to Jack's side.

"Who are you?" Sam asked, tensing slightly.

The man pulled his wallet out, flashing an ID card at her. "Agent Moran. NID."

"Sam?" Jack reached out to lightly touch her arm. There was something wrong. He could tell by her posture she was worried, and that did nothing to put him at ease, despite the reassuring look she shot him.

"NID?" She took a cautious step closer to the man. "What do you want?"

"I need to speak to you, Major," he cast a glance at Jack and Charlie. "In private."

Still frowning, Sam took another step towards the man, and froze. Jack saw her eyes go wide as though she'd just noticed something. The strange man too tensed suddenly.

"Jack, run!" Sam shouted, backing away. She reached behind herself, pulling out a small handgun from its holster under her jacket.

The fact that his girlfriend had just pulled a gun out of nowhere wasn't what surprised Jack, though. Glancing up at the strange man Jack saw his eyes glow, actually _glow_, and when he spoke his voice sounded strange and echoing. Sam fired a shot off but missed. Jack grabbed Charlie by the arm but the boy was frozen in place, eyes wide and mouth open.

It seemed to happen in slow motion. The man raised his left hand and Jack could see something looped around his middle and ring fingers. Pointing his hand at Charlie the man pressed the thing with his thumb, and what appeared to be a bolt of energy flew through the air.

"Charlie!" Sam shouted. She reacted instantly, throwing herself at Charlie and knocking him to the ground, out of harms way. The energy beam however caught her across the back, leaving a sizzling wound in its wake.

Without thinking Jack stepped forward and grabbed the handgun from where Sam had dropped it. He aimed and fired at the man and caught him in the arm. The man shouted something at Jack, then pressed something on his wrist…and vanished.

"Sam!" It was Charlie's shaking voice that broke the silence.

Jack dropped the gun and knelt, helping Sam to move off Charlie. "Shit…Sam…"

"I'm ok…ah-!" She winced, trying to move as little as possible. She leaned forward against Jack. "I'm ok…"

Jack stared down at her back, at the angry red wound that was still smoking slightly. "No you're not! Jesus, we need to get you to a hospital."

"No." Sam shook her head, feebly reaching in her pocket and pulling out her cell phone. "Call…first speed dial number…tell Kowalski that…never mind…just get Kowalski on the line. First speed dial."

Wondering what good that could possibly do, Jack dialed the first number on the phone and waited as it rang. Moments later Kowalski answered.

"Yo, Carter what's –"

"It's not Sam, it's me. Jack."

"Jack?" Kowalski sounded surprised. "Why're you using Carter's -?"

"Jesus, something just happened…this guy attacked us…Sam's hurt…" Jack could hear himself stuttering. "She didn't want me to take her to a hospital though…"

"Ok, Jack, just calm down. How bad is she hurt?"

"I don't know…this guy, I know it sounds crazy, just got her across the back with some sort of _energy beam_…She's barely conscious…"

"Ok, ok, Jack, listen to me. Tell Sam that I'll send a team to come pick you guys up. I'll make sure Jackson and Dr. Fraiser come too, alright? You got that?"

"Yeah…" Jack bit his lip, looking worriedly down at Sam. "Jackson. Fraiser. Right."

"Ok. Just hang in there, Jack, everything's gonna be fine."

Jack mumbled a goodbye and hung up. He looked down, brow furrowed, at Sam, who had her face buried in his chest. "Sam?"

"Jack, you need to calm down." Sam mumbled, her voice muffled slightly. "I'm going to be fine. What'd Kowalski say? Something about Daniel and Janet?"

"He said…" Jack was working furiously to calm his racing heart. "He's sending a team to come get us. Something about Jackson and Dr. Fraiser…"

"Yeah, that's…uhn…Daniel and Janet…" Sam sat up, grimacing. She looked at Charlie. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," Charlie squeaked out. "What the hell was that?!"

Sam was sitting with her back slightly hunched so as not to stretch the wound at all. "I swear I'll explain everything to you guys, just not now."

"How are they going to be able to find us?" Jack asked, feeling a bit calmer now that Sam appeared to be in no immediate danger. "I didn't tell Kowalski where we were…"

"Oh…they'll find us…" Sam made a faint whimpering noise. "How bad is it?"

"Uhm…" Jack tilted his head to the side. "It looks pretty bad."

Sam turned her head, gritting her teeth as she straightened her back to try and see the wound. "I…" she inhaled sharply and settled back into a more comfortable position. "I've had worse."

"Worse?" Charlie squeaked out, then looked up to the road. "Is that them?"

Sam looked up at the vehicles that had just pulled up and the people who were getting out of them and rushing over to them. She nodded wearily. "Yeah, that's them."

Jack turned as well and could see two people rushing down the slope from the road towards them. The first was a short woman with dark auburn hair, the other, a young, good looking, bespectacled man with wide blue eyes. They both looked worried, though the woman put a hand to her chest and let out a sigh of relief when they got closer.

"Oh, Sam," she let her hand fall. "You're alright! The way Kowalski was going on I thought you'd lost an arm or something."

Sam chuckled nervously, putting a hand affectionately on Jack's cheek. "Oh…Jack just got a little panicky when he called Kowalski."

"So this is Jack?" the woman raised her eyebrows, smirking slightly as she crouched next to Sam. "Sam, I'm just going to check you over before we try to move you."

The young man who was hovering nearby grinned down at Sam. "So…you going to introduce us?"

"Oh, sorry," Sam rolled her eyes, sucking in her breath sharply as the other woman peeled back the fabric of her shirt to look at the injury. "Kinda slipped my mind. This is Jack and his son Charlie…guys, these are my friends Daniel Jackson and Janet Fraiser. They work at the base with me."

"Nice to meet you," Jack mumbled, then peered at Janet. "Is she going to be ok?"

"She'll be fine." Janet smiled. "Trust me. Sam's been through a lot worse than this and lived to tell the tale." She motioned to a couple of airmen to come and help her get Sam to the cars.

Sam put a hand on Janet's arm. "Jack and Charlie need to come with us."

"Uhm…" Daniel stepped forward, looking slightly skeptical. "Sam are you sure General Hamm–"

"Daniel," Sam raised her eyebrows at him. "We were attacked by a goa'uld. I think the general will understand."

"That's true..." Daniel looked at Jack. "What'd you see, exactly?"

"I saw a guy with_ glowing eyes_ shoot my girlfriend," Jack said, narrowing his eyes. "I'd kinda appreciate some answers to my questions, mainly what the hell was that thing?"

"Ok ok!" Daniel held up his hands in surrender. "You'll get your answers, don't worry. I'll go let them know we're bringing two more back with us." He turned and started walking back to the cars.

Sam shot Jack an apologetic look. "Come on. You'll get your answers." She let out a loud yelp as one of the airmen accidentally bumped against her back.

* * *

After an excessive amount of paperwork, Jack found himself and Charlie sitting in the briefing room of the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, across the table from Kowalski, and awaiting the arrival of someone by the name of General Hammond. Sam apparently was still in the infirmary being looked after by Dr. Fraiser.

"You should consider yourself lucky, Charlie," Kowalski was saying, grinning at the boy. "If you ever decide to join the military your security clearance is going to be higher than all your teachers at the academy combined."

"Really?" Charlie's eyes lit up. "Sweet!"

"Now wait…" Jack remembered the warning Sarah had given him and now was beginning to feel apprehension twisting his stomach. "Is this something that Charlie _really_ needs to get involved in?"

"Aww, Daaaad!"

Kowalski held up his hands. "Jack, Charlie's not getting involved in anything. We're just letting him in on the best kept secret the government has." He winked at Charlie who grinned.

"Now wait a minute." Jack said, scowling. "If Charlie's not getting involved in anything then how come that guy tried to shoot him?"

"Because he knew it would be a way to get to Major Carter," said a voice from the doorway. "Goa'uld are smart."

Jack looked up. The man who had just walked in must be General Hammond. He was short, heavy set and balding with a thick Texas accent. Hammond nodded to Jack.

"You must be Colonel O'Neill."

"Retired." Out of habit Jack got to his feet. "Sir."

"Please, please," Hammond waved for him to sit, then smiled at Charlie. "And you must be Charlie."

Charlie nodded, still grinning.

"Now," Hammond sat down, folding his hands on the table. "I suppose the first question on your minds is what that was that attacked you back there."

"Yeah, the thought had crossed my mind." Jack said, leaning back in his chair.

"The thing that attacked you was called a goa'uld."

"Ok, see everyone was throwing that word around," Jack said. "What _is_ a goa'uld, exactly?"

"It's a type of alien." Kowalski said matter-of-factly.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Very funny, Kowalski. No, seriously now." He turned back to the general. "Sir?"

"I'm afraid that Col. Kowalski is being entirely serious." Hammond replied, raising his eyebrows.

"Wait," Charlie interrupted, leaning forward. "You mean alien from outer space alien or alien from another country alien?"

Kowalski smirked. "I mean alien from outer space. I know it's hard to believe, but it's true."

"Hard to believe is one way of putting it," Jack said, annoyance showing through in his voice. "A load of bull crap is another!"

Choosing not to respond, Kowalski looked instead to Hammond. "Should I show them, sir?"

"Of course." Hammond nodded, scooting his chair back so he could press a button on the wall, which caused a metal blast shield behind Jack to rise up, revealing a window.

Kowalski stood and walked over to the window, then beckoned. "Jack, Charlie, come see this."

Exchanging confused looks, Jack and Charlie got to their feet as well, walking over so they could see through the window. It looked out into what looked like a missile silo, except sitting at the bottom wasn't a missile, but instead a huge metal ring, maybe twenty feet high, with a ramp leading up to it.

"What is that?!" Charlie breathed out, awestruck.

"That, my friends, is called a Stargate." Kowalski said, gesturing down towards it. "For the past five years the Air Force has been sending teams through that to explore other planets with the goal of making alliances with alien races and acquiring new technology."

"Alien races. Technology." Jack narrowed his eyes. "Stargate."

"He's telling the truth, Jack." They all turned around to see Sam walking in, accompanied by a huge dark skinned man with a strange gold emblem on his forehead. Sam gestured to the table. "If you guys wanna sit down I can try and explain this all to you."

Jack held up one hand. "Just tell me one thing, Sam, and I swear I'll believe whatever answer you give."

"What is it?"

"Aliens?"

Sam smiled. "Yeah. Aliens." She put a hand on the arm of the man next to her. "In fact you're looking at one right now. Guys, I'd like you to meet Teal'c."

Charlie's jaw dropped. "You're…"

"Indeed." Teal'c inclined his head slightly.

* * *

"Dad, this is so unbelievably cool!" Charlie said, practically bouncing around the kitchen. "Just for the record, I officially love Sam now."

Jack turned, raising his eyebrows.

Charlie blushed. "Er…I mean…in the family sorta love. I don't _love_ love her. You know what I mean."

"Sure." Jack turned, slamming the door of the dishwasher closed. He picked up the dishcloth, throwing it at the sink.

"Dad?" Charlie looked at him curiously. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing's wrong, kiddo," Jack tried to smile at his son reassuringly. "There's just some stuff I have to talk to Sam about."

Charlie didn't seem comforted by that at all. He narrowed his eyes. "No."

"Excuse me?"

"You're going to break up with her, aren't you?" Charlie folded his arms over his chest.

Jack rolled his eyes, sighing heavily as he sat down at the kitchen table. "I never said that."

"I know what you mean though!" Charlie made an exasperated noise. "I just start to get used to her and now you're dumping her…thanks a lot…"

"Hey, I like Sam, a lot. She's one of the most amazing women I've ever met," Jack looked at his son seriously. "But Charlie, your safety is the most important thing to me. I would never do anything to sacrifice that just to make me happy."

Charlie pouted. "Sam would protect me. Us. We've got the good guys on our side."

"This isn't a game, Charlie!" Jack snapped. "This is something very real and far more complicated than either of us understand. I know Sam would do everything she could to protect us, but that might not be enough." He gave Charlie a hard look. "I could never live with myself if you were killed. Or even just hurt."

Charlie rolled his eyes. "Dad, you don't watch enough movies."

"What?" Jack blinked.

"Every evil villain knows that the best way to get to someone is by going after the people they care about…"

"So…?"

"So…Yeah…" Charlie made a gesture with one hand. "The goa'uld are supposed to be smart, right? So they'd know the best way to get to Sam is to come after us."

"Which is exactly what I'm saying." Jack said, rolling his eyes.

"But, Dad! Breaking up with Sam isn't going to change that. You and Mom broke up and you still care about each other," Charlie pointed out.

Jack sighed, making a face and running his hand through his hair. After a few long moments he looked up at his son, and smiled faintly. "A few days ago you would have jumped at the chance of me breaking up with her."

Charlie leaned on the table, giving his father a wide-eyed look. "Dad, how many chances am I going to get to have a step-mom who fights aliens for a living, huh?"

"I still have to talk to Sam." Jack said, reaching out and ruffling Charlie's hair affectionately.

Charlie grinned and went back to his bouncing. "Oh hey, Dad, did I tell you I'm going to join the Air Force? AND I'm going to work at the SGC once I graduate."

"Well, we'll talk about that when you're a little older, ok, soldier?" Jack smirked, then made a shooing motion with one hand. "Now go play video games or something. Give your old man a chance to relax for a few minutes."

Charlie laughed and rolled his eyes before charging into the living room.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N – Sorry this took so long, but life has been insane lately It feels like it took me forever to write this chapter and I'm afraid I'm not very happy with it. Despite the little bit of irony at the end….

* * *

Chapter 6

"We need to talk."

The look on Sam's face was one of sheer terror, certainly not what Jack had been expecting. "We need to talk?" she parroted, dumbfounded.

Jack stopped in the middle of the path. It was a bright sunny afternoon and the two were walking in the park, having just dropped Charlie off at baseball practice. Turning towards Sam, Jack reached out and tried to take her hand but she jerked it away. "Hey…"

"Just say it and get it over with," Sam grumbled, turning away from him and folding her arms over her chest. Jack wasn't sure but he could have sworn that he heard a faint hitch in her voice. "Don't beat around the bush, either, and try to tell me that you just need a little space or whatever bull crap you men think sounds better than just outright breaking up!"

"Is that what you think?" Jack took a step closer to her and succeeded in grabbing her wrist, not allowing her to pull away. "Is that what you seriously think, that I'm going to break up with you? Sam, if I did that would be the dumbest thing I've ever done in my life. And trust me, I've done plenty of dumb things."

Sam looked at him dubiously.

"Seriously." Jack took a few steps closer so they were nearly chest-to-chest. Sam was looking at the ground but Jack leaned over, resting his forehead against hers. "I'm not breaking up with you," he said quietly.

"Don't say things like that then!" Sam said, leaning against him and wrapping her arms around his waist. "You scared me."

"You weren't scared by an alien with a laser gun and yet you're scared when I say 'we need to talk'?" Jack asked, raising his eyebrows.

Sam stepped back, looking up at him. " Jack, I _was_ scared by the goa'uld. I was very scared because I didn't want to see you or Charlie get hurt or…or worse."

"Yeah, that's kinda what I wanted to talk about, actually."

Sam stared at him for a moment, not comprehending. Then it seemed to dawn on her and she nodded. "You're worried about the danger that Charlie could be put into."

"He's my son." Jack said, shrugging haplessly. "And exposing him to…government conspiracies or whatever you'd call what you do isn't exactly the best thing I can do to keep him safe."

"I know." Sam reached down, taking Jack's hands in hers. She squeezed his hands, comforting, reassuring. "But, Jack, you know that I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure nothing like that happens again."

Jack nodded, reaching up and putting a hand on her cheek. "You wanna go out tonight or something?"

"Sure." Sam nuzzled her face against his hand then stepped back, taking his hand in hers as they started walking up towards the street. "I've got some work to finish up but I'll come over to your place later and we can go…dancing, or something."

"Dancing?"

"I love dancing." Sam grinned at him.

They crossed the street to the parking lot of the grocery store where they'd both left their vehicles. Before going their separate ways, Jack paused, leaning over to exchange a tender kiss with Sam. She smiled at him, then turned and walked over to her car.

Jack was just fishing in his pocket for his keys when he happened to look over towards the store and saw a familiar face coming out. He hesitated a moment, then sighed heavily and jogged over to help Sarah with the three full bags of groceries she had balanced precariously in her arms.

"Thanks." She smiled weakly up at him.

"No problem." Jack shifted the weight of the bags in his arms and they started walking slowly to Sarah's car. "How've you been?"

"Good." Sarah narrowed her eyes slightly. "So was that your new girlfriend or Charlie's?"

Annoyance rippled through Jack but he managed to bite back an all-too scathing response. "Oh, very nice. If you haven't noticed I'm giving you a hand here. And she's not _that_ young."

"She looks a lot younger than you."

"And I am sure that is only one of many things that you would find wrong with her," Jack grumbled. He was starting to regret being so nice. But then again, honestly how did he expect his ex-wife to react to seeing him with Sam? "Look, Sarah, I don't want to get in a fight."

"Then let's not." She opened the trunk of her car, setting the bag she was carrying down in it then taking the two from Jack and putting them away as well. "Though it would be nice to have a little chat about things sometime."

Jack nodded slowly. "Saturday, maybe, when I drop off Charlie?"

"We'll see." Sarah gave him an odd look as she unlocked the car. "I miss you, Jack."

"I'll see you Saturday," he replied a little coldly, nodding to her before turning and slouching back off to his car.

* * *

"Oh, geeze, Sam, I must be the oldest guy here…" Jack grumbled as he looked around the bar/dance club.

Sam rolled her eyes and elbowed him lightly in the ribs as they walked over to the bar. "Oh you are not. Come on, this'll be fun, I swear."

A couple drinks later and he wasn't fretting anymore, and certainly wasn't thinking about much more than the woman pressed up against him. He looked down at Sam and she smiled up at him, her face illuminated by the flashing lights. He would have never done something like this with Sarah, and despite earlier reservations he realized that Sam had been right and he was having fun.

A few songs later and he had to pull Sam back over to their table for the sake of his heart. She grinned at him, reaching out and taking his hand as they slid into their seats and ordered another couple drinks from the waiter.

For the first time, as he stared at Sam, Jack allowed himself to contemplate the thought of remarriage. After the pain that his last one had given him he'd been a little loath to think of doing it all over again, and yet…this was Sam. He loved her, and was sure of that now. It would be hard with her always at the SGC but maybe that would work out ok…after all he _had_ fully stepped into the role of 'stay at home' dad and enjoyed being able to laze around the house all day.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Sam asked, leaning in closer to him.

Jack reached out to touch her cheek with his free hand. "Us…I guess."

"Oh?" her eyes sparkled slightly and she leaned into his touch as he spread his hand to cup her cheek.

"I love you." Jack murmured. He was unsure if she head heard him, until Sam's face broke out in a huge grin.

"I love you too."

He was so ready at that moment to stand up and sweep her into his arms, but her goddamn cell phone rang. Giving him an apologetic look, Sam opened her purse and pulled the phone out, checking the caller ID before standing up and walking over towards the hall that lead to the bathrooms to answer it.

Jack sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair, keeping his eyes on Sam. He could just barely see her, but could tell she was agitated by the way she paced while talking on the phone. God damn technology and its ability to go off at exactly the wrong moment.

Sam's face was dark when she came back to the table. "I have to go, I'm sorry…something's come up at work."

"Can't the galaxy just wait for a couple hours?" Jack said, making a face as he stood up to help Sam with her jacket. She laughed quietly and shook her head. While she busied herself zipping up her jacket, Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out his keychain, removing one of the keys and handing it to Sam. "Here. Back door key. If you get back later you should come by."

"Jack, it could be really late," Sam said, hesitantly taking the key from him.

"I don't care. Come by if you can, even if it's late." Jack closed his hands around hers and leaned in to kiss her.

* * *

"You're back early," Charlie said as Jack walked into the living room. "I thought you and Sam were going out clubbing or something."

Jack rolled his eyes and plopped down on the couch. "She got called into work."

"Cool." Charlie nodded, switching off the television and turning around to face his dad. "Is she coming up to the cabin with us this year?" It was a family tradition that they'd go up to the cabin in Minnesota over Charlie's spring break, and then again over his summer break as well. Jack loved going up there and it was only by sheer luck that in the divorce settlement Sarah had gotten their old house, leaving Jack with the cabin.

"Do you want her to come with us?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

Charlie nodded emphatically. "Yeah If she can, I mean like, if she isn't to busy or whatever."

"We can ask her. She might be stopping by after work, so I'll talk to her if she does." Jack wiggled his eyebrows at his son and added teasingly, "now that doesn't mean that you're allowed to bring your girlfriend too."

"Daaaad" Charlie groaned and rolled his eyes.

* * *

Jack awoke in the middle of the night. He rolled over to glance at the clock, seeing that it was just after one. At first he wasn't quite sure what had woken him up, then he heard the sound of the back door closing. Praying that it was just Sam and not some random burglar, Jack got out of bed and pulled his robe on before moving out into the hall.

Sam was standing by the kitchen sink, pouring herself a glass of water. The fluorescent light that hung just above the sink shone on her face and Jack could see the tired expression there, as well as the bandage on her cheek.

"Sam, you ok?" he moved to her side, putting a hand on her back.

"Yeah." Wearily she turned and leaned against him, letting out a long sigh. "Just had to go help another team that got trapped off world by some alien device. We got ambushed but we made it out ok."

"And here I thought you just had to go in and finish up some paperwork," Jack murmured, chuckling slightly. He wrapped his arms around her. "You ready for bed?"

Sam answered by yawning loudly.

She was asleep almost the second she lay down, so Jack was as quiet as he could be laying down next to her and pulling the blankets over them. He'd almost forgot how nice it was just to sleep next to someone, and smiled a little to himself as he draped an arm around her. Sam snuggled closer, making a contented noise and together they drifted off to sleep.

* * *

They'd barely gotten to the kitchen the next morning before Kowalski called Sam's cell phone, apparently demanding her help with something. That something, however, mustn't have been too complicated because Sam gave him rather terse instructions over the phone before turning it off.

"He couldn't find my reports from the last two missions," she explained, taking a cup of coffee from Jack. "Of course he didn't think to look in the cabinet in his office…"

Jack chuckled then glanced at the clock. "Damnit, that kid's gonna be late for school if he doesn't haul his ass out of bed soon…" he turned in the general direction of his son's bedroom and bellowed Charlie's name. A few minutes later Charlie shuffled in, rubbing his eyes and grumbling. He sat down at the table and looked at Sam.

"You're coming up north with us this year."

Sam laughed. "Am I?"

"You know, Sport," Jack said, playfully ruffling his son's hair. "You're supposed to _ask_ her first, not tell her."

"But I didn't want her to say no." Charlie said, turning wide eyes towards Sam. "I mean, it's kinda boring when it's just me and Dad - "

"Hey"

"All he wants to do is sit around fishing…" The boy made a face.

"Fishing is an excellent pastime," Jack argued, setting the milk and a box of cereal down on the table. "Now get ready for school."

After Charlie had gone into his room to get dressed, Jack took his seat at the table. "We really would like you to come to the cabin with us. Charlie's got a four day weekend coming up and I was thinking of pulling him out a day early so we could head up there."

"Sure." Sam nodded. "If you're sure it's ok…"

"Of course it's ok, why wouldn't it be?"

Sam shrugged, shaking her head. "I don't know, never mind. I'll check with the colonel and make sure we don't have any vitally important missions planned for then."

"Excellent" Jack patted the back of her hand enthusiastically. "It'll be great, you'll see. Campfires under the stars, the great outdoors, fishing…yeah sure ya betcha…"


	7. Chapter 7

A/N – Ah, lalala! I'm just running on a high right now because I got accepted at a university…it's a wonderful feeling…. Anyway. I give you a bit of a taste of Jack and Jacob interaction, and there's more to come.

And let me just say that their trip to the cabin is going to be quite eventful.

* * *

Chapter 7

Jack didn't end up having the talk with Sarah. When he dropped Charlie off at her house he was far to tired and grumpy to get into a verbal duel with his ex and so didn't even bother getting out of the car.

Sam was gone on a mission through Wednesday and so the week seemed to crawl by, making Jack wonder how the hell he'd survived that first year. Then he realized that he'd been so busy wallowing in self-pity that he hadn't had time to be bored. But now, with the two most meaningful things in his life gone, he found himself with nothing to do. He tried to occupy himself with getting ready for their trip up north, but that was still two weeks away and there was only so much he could do this far in advance.

Thursday came as a welcome relief because it meant that Sam showed up on his doorstep first thing in the morning. Charlie had a game later, as well, and while Jack knew that there could be issues, the boy had demanded that both he and Sam be there, and so Jack hesitantly agreed.

It was pleasantly cool out as they got to the park where the game was. Families were already packing onto the bleachers and Jack found him and Sam a seat, and they even spotted Charlie where he was standing off along the sidelines with his team, waiting for the game to start. He grinned when he saw them and waved.

As the game started Jack found his eyes wandering over the crowd. He'd spotted Sarah's car in the parking lot and…sure enough, there she was sitting down in the front row near the opposite corner of the bleachers from him and Sam. As though she could sense Jack watching her, Sarah glanced up, though barely acknowledged him as their eyes met. She quickly looked away.

Charlie made several good plays throughout the game, including one spectacular home run that had Jack leaping out of his seat and cheering.

They were standing around waiting for Charlie when Sarah finally approached them.

"Well, Jack, are you going to introduce us?" She said, eyeing Sam the way one lion might eye another.

"Yeah," Jack shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. "Sarah this is Sam. Sam, Sarah."

"Nice to meet you," Sam said, trying to smile warmly.

Sarah just nodded. "Mhmm."

They were saved from any further awkwardness by Charlie, who bounded over excitedly. "Did you see that?! God I'm so kickass!!"

"Great job, Sport," Jack said, grinning and pulling his son into a hug.

"Ice cream?" Charlie said, turning to his mother and looking up at her expectantly. It was another little tradition, the post game sundae, and Sarah nodded. Charlie turned to Jack. "You guys coming to?"

And there was that awkwardness again. Jack cleared his throat, quelling a little under the cold glare that Sarah shot him. "Uhm, kiddo, Sam and I have got other stuff we have to do, so you and Mom go."

"Oh." Charlie looked slightly disappointed. "Ok. But could you take my gear back to your house?"

"Sure," Jack nodded and pulled his car keys out of his pocket. "I'll help you put it in the car…"

"I can do that," Sam said, snatching the keys and giving Jack meaningful look. "I'll meet you back by the car."

Jack watched them go with a flutter of trepidation in his stomach before turning back to Sarah. "Ok, so reason number one. What don't you like about her?" his voice dripped with terse sarcasm.

"You are such a stereotypical man sometimes," Sarah replied.

"Okaaay…I don't think that's what I asked but what do you mean by that?"

Sarah turned and stared after Charlie and Sam, who were walking to the car. "Oh just look at her."

"Ok." Jack took a deep breath and stuck his hands in his pockets, trying hard to keep calm. "Look, I know what you're saying here and you're wrong. She's a caring, intelligent major in the _Air Force_ and she also happens to have a PhD in astrophysics…"

Sarah raised her eyebrows. "See and that's where my skepticism sets in again."

"Oh for God's sake…"

"Jack you hate scientists," Sarah pointed out, eyes narrowed. "So excuse me for doubting that _that's_ the reason you're dating her and not her perfect body and blond hair."

"Oh how shallow, I would _never_ guess that you're jealous of her."

Sarah folded her arms over her chest and glared at him.

* * *

"I don't think your mom likes me very much," Sam said, casting a glance over her shoulder as she and Charlie made their way to Jack's truck.

Charlie sighed heavily and rolled his eyes. "No…"

Biting her lip Sam unlocked the back of the cover on Jack's truck so Charlie could throw his gear inside. Then, to her surprise the boy threw his arms around her waist in a brief but fierce hug before stepping back, looking slightly embarrassed.

"What was that for?" Sam asked, bemused.

"You're not my mom," Charlie said, fidgeting. "And I know that you never will be, but I still like you. And you make my dad happy and you guys don't fight so…yeah…" He shrugged, grinned, then without another word turned and ran back towards the field.

Sam leaned against the side of the truck, folding her arms over her chest and sighing. This certainly was complicated. She'd always heard that dating a guy with kids always had a lot of extra baggage along with it and now she was learning that that was true. But as she watched Jack walk towards her she realized that it was also worth it.

"You ok?" she asked, reaching out to put a hand on his arm as he drew closer.

"Mmm." Jack nodded, wrapping his arms around her and drawing her close. "Just suffering some post-traumatic ex syndrome or whatever." He peered down at her, concerned. "_You're_ ok, right?"

"I'm fine." Sam grinned up at him. "Oh! I almost forgot, my dad's going to be on the planet next week…if you wanted to meet him. I know he wants to meet you. And Selmak too."

"Selmak?" Jack raised his eyebrows at her as they climbed into the truck. "Oh that's right, you're dad's got a snake in his head…"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Don't say that to his face. They might get offended. Selmak is a two-thousand year old Tok'ra symbiote. You'll probably like him, he's got a great sense of humor."

"Great. Yeah, sure I'd love to meet him."

Sam peered at him. "It's not too early or anything?"

"Too early? Nahh." Jack waved his hand dismissively. "Really, I'd love to meet him. Do I get to come to work with you?" he grinned at her.

"We could do that," Sam said, laughing. "I'll have to sort out all the paperwork but does Tuesday sound good to you?"

"Sounds great." Jack smiled, then leaned over and kissed her before pulling out of the parking lot.

* * *

Jack felt butterflies fluttering around in his stomach as he stepped off the elevator and was told to wait while they called Sam. There was always something nerve-racking about meeting your girlfriend's father, and when he also happened to be the host to an alien symbiote well…that just made everything worse.

Sam rounded a corner, dressed in regulation olive drab pants and a black shirt. She grinned when she saw Jack and hurried over. "Hey." They exchanged a brief hug and kiss before she took him by the hand and led him down a corridor to another set of elevators.

"Geeze, Sam, you're more nervous than I am," Jack said, raising his eyebrows at the way Sam was fidgeting.

"Oh, it's just, I don't know," she shrugged.

Off the elevator, down a corridor, and they stopped before a large metal door. "It's my lab," Sam explained. "Dad and I were just working on something." She swiped a key-card and the door slid open.

Sam's father looked far less strange than Jack had expected him to. With the exception of his odd clothing he appeared to be a normal, older man with a kind face and a balding head. He turned and nodded to them as they entered.

"Dad, this is Jack," Sam said, clasping her hands in front of her and biting her lip nervously. "Jack, this is my dad, General Jacob Carter."

"Pleased to meet you, sir," Jack said, shaking Jacob's hand.

Jacob nodded. "Same. After hearing Sam talk about you so much it's good to finally put a face with the name."

"So," Jack said. "What can I tell you that'll assure you I'm not a total jerk-wad?"

"Actually, I'd be more worried that you were completely insane," Jacob said, smirking. "Considering Sam's track record."

Sam looked affronted. "Oh, thanks a lot Dad!"

"Got an attraction to the lunatic fringe, Sam?" Jack raised his eyebrows at her.

Jacob's smirk deepened. "Oh just a little."

"Then again, you know what they say," Jack said, turning back towards Jacob. "Girls tend to be attracted to men who resemble their fathers in certain ways."

Jacob chuckled approvingly.

* * *

Hours later after finishing a few reports Sam headed down to the commissary where she met up with her father.

"So, what'd you think?" She asked, sliding into the chair across from him.

Jacob looked up. "Of what?"

"Of Jack, obviously!"

"Oh, right," Jacob nodded. "Yeah, I like him a lot, Sam. He's got a great sense of humor and I think he's got the perfect personality to balance yours."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sam narrowed her eyes.

"Just that he seemed very easy-going and carefree and you're generally so uptight." Jacob gave his daughter a few moments of silence to digest the information without exploding. "Selmak liked him a lot."

"Great."

"Are the two of you very serious about this?" Jacob asked, resting his elbows on the table. "Like do you think it's headed towards marriage…?"

Sam shrugged, smiling in a daydreaming sort of way. They hadn't ever talked about marriage and she didn't want to be the one to bring it up. Jack was the one who had been through that all before, and she would let him decide when he was ready to go through it again. "I don't know, Dad, I don't want to push things too quickly."

"No no of course not," Jacob took a sip of water, eyeing his daughter curiously. "But if he asked would you say yes?"

"Of course I would!" Sam said, turning bright pink. "Dad!"

Jacob laughed, reaching over and patting Sam's arm. "Sorry, kiddo, I'm just giving you a hard time. I liked him, I really did. Now, just one more overly protective father question…"

Sighing heavily, Sam leaned forward and looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Ok…what is it?"

"Why did he and his wife get divorced?"

"I…" Sam frowned thoughtfully. "I haven't really talked to him about it, specifically…I think they just weren't getting along anymore. Lost their spark or whatever. I don't think it was anything specific that either of them had done." She arched one eyebrow. "Happy now?"

Jacob smiled at her in an overly jovial way. "Yes, very, thank you."

* * *

Jack groaned as he woke up Wednesday morning. In the few blissful seconds of half-sleep before fully regaining consciousness he'd had the peaceful idea of going fishing, and then the memory that he had a meeting with Sarah and their lawyer came crashing down on him. One year and there were still things they were smoothing out.

Dragging himself out of bed he pulled his clothes on and trudged out into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee. Glancing at the clock above the stove he saw that it was a quarter after seven and Charlie still wasn't up yet…

"Charlie!" Jack called. "You're going to be late for school, get outta bed!" He paused for a few minutes, drumming his fingers on the edge of the counter and waiting for the sound of Charlie's bedroom door opening. When he didn't hear it he turned and stomped into the hall, grumbling under his breath. "Charlie, get up!" he said, sticking his head into his son's room.

There was an incomprehensible grumble and shuffling from underneath the covers.

"Come on, sport, I know you don't want to go to school," Jack walked over and shook Charlie's shoulder.

"Daaad…don't do that…" came the weak retort. Slowly, Charlie rolled over and peered up at Jack.

"Hey, Charlie, you alright?" Jack sat on the edge of the bed and put a hand on Charlie's forehead. "You feel a bit warm…"

"I feel like shit…" Charlie grumbled through gritted teeth. "Dad, I think I'm gonna puke…"

Jack got to his feet and moved the trash bin so it was near the bed. "Here, it'll probably be better if you don't puke all over your bed. I'll call you n sick but I've got that thing with Mom today…"

" 'S ok…" Charlie said. "I'll be ok here."

"I'd rather not leave you home alone," Jack said, gently brushing his son's hair off his face. "What if I call Sam and see if she'll come and wait with you?"

Charlie rolled his eyes before closing them. "I don't need a babysitter, Dad."

"I know, but you're sick, and I'd feel better if there was someone watching you," Jack straightened up. "You'll probably just sleep the entire time, so don't worry about it."

A short while later Jack was standing just outside his front door, looking at Sam who stood just inside.

"Thanks," he said. "I really appreciate this…"

Sam grinned. "It's no problem, really. You caught me on a dull day…I was just getting caught up on some mission reports."

Jack eyed the briefcase she had tucked under one arm and made a face. "Oooh, now I remember why I retired…" he chuckled and leaned over, gently kissing Sam. "You're amazing," he said, straightening back up. "Anyway, you know my cell number…I shouldn't be gone more than a couple hours but just make sure Charlie doesn't die while I'm gone or anything."

"Don't worry," Sam leaned against the door way, smirking at him and giving Jack a salute. "I'll hold the fort, sir."

"Hey." Jack made a face. "There's a time and place for _that_, and if you want me to actually be on time for this meeting now isn't it."

Sam laughed and made a shooing motion with one hand. "Go on then. Have fun at that meeting."

"Oh, I will…" Jack smiled at her one last time then turned, shaking his head as he walked over to his truck. "I'm sure I will…"

* * *

"So Charlie was home sick today…" Jack said an hour and a half later as he and Sarah walked out of the lawyer's office.

Sarah looked up at him. "You left him home alone? Jack we could have rescheduled!"

"No no, it's fine, Sam stayed with him."

"Oh." Sarah stopped by her car, turning and leaning back against it with her arms folded over he chest, regarding Jack with a sour expression.

Jack blinked at her. "Oh? Sarah, she's just keeping an eye on him."

"He's not her son," Sarah muttered, looking away.

"Yeah, I know that! But she cares about him," Jack took a few deep breaths. "Look, I know you're drowning in jealousy here…but…no, you know what? Just forget I said anything."

Sarah turned back towards him. "Kind of hard to do that now, Jack."

"You know, it's getting really hard for me to not turn spiteful right now," Jack said, pulling his sunglasses out of his pocket and slipping them on. "Sam's never done anything to you and you're treating her like…I don't know, something."

"Oh, she hasn't done anything to me? She's not trying to insinuate herself into your and Charlie's lives in my place?"

"What?!" Jack stared at her. "No she's not. Look, I don't really want to be having this conversation. I have to get back home to _our_ son."

Jack started walking down the street towards his truck, but Sarah called after him. "Oh, so I suppose you're going to tell me that you're madly in love with her now, are you?"

"Yes," Jack shouted over his shoulder, feeling his annoyance reaching a breaking point. "Yes I am."


	8. Chapter 8

A/N – Having never been a young boy myself, I apologize if the dialog between Charlie and Tim sounds more like teenage girls. I did my best :P

* * *

Chapter 8

Charlie grumbled under his breath as he dug in his closet, searching desperately for the camouflage boonie hat that he always wore when he and his father went up to the cabin. Locating it, he grinned triumphantly and straightened up, holding the hat aloft before turning around. His friend Tim was sitting on the bed, leafing through a comic, and when Charlie turned Tim raised his eyebrows.

"You're weird," he grumbled, shaking his head and returning to the comic.

Charlie shrugged, throwing the hat into the suitcase that lay open on the floor next to the bed. "Course I am."

"Are you done playing Indiana Jones and the great messy closet?" Tim tossed the comic aside and smirked at his friend.

"Shut up, at least my whole bedroom isn't like that."

Tim made a face and reached over to begin sifting through the stack of comics Charlie had on his nightstand. "_And_ at least your dad's girlfriend is hot."

"Whaaat?" Charlie glanced up from tossing jeans into the suitcase. "Dude, she's like twice as old as us."

"So what?" Tim said, raising one eyebrow. "So is Angelina Jolie."

Charlie plopped down on the bed next to Tim and punched his arm. "But Sam's like practically my mom…so that would be just kinda weird."

"She's still hot," Tim grinned, sticking his chest out the way he'd seen the older boys doing and adopting a self-important, nonchalant look. "I'd totally tap that."

"Cut it out, that's just gross!" Charlie punched him again and the two got momentarily absorbed in a wrestling match that only ended when Tim landed on the floor. Charlie looked down at him. "You wanna go try out those new video games or not?"

"Sure, whatever," Tim stood up and the two headed out to the living room.

* * *

The Thursday that they were planning to leave landed on a week that Charlie was with Sarah. After a bit of bargaining over who got Charlie over what holiday break, Jack managed to work it out with Sarah.

So on Wednesday afternoon Jack found himself heading over to his ex's house. He knew it was too early and that Charlie wouldn't be home from school just yet, but he felt that there were a few things he should talk about with Sarah.

"Charlie isn't home yet," she said when she opened the door and saw Jack standing there.

"I know." Jack stuck his hands in his pockets, shifting a little awkwardly from foot to foot. "I just wanted to talk a bit before he gets back."

Sarah raised her eyebrows, but nodded and stepped aside to let Jack in. "Talk. Alright."

They walked into the livingroom. The living room that had previously been _their_ living room, but now was just Sarah's. So went the divorce agreement. Jack sat down on the couch and Sarah sat on one of the chairs across from him, folding her arms and leaning forward, looking at him with a tired expression.

"Well?"

Jack sighed. "What's going on with you?" he asked, voice concerned.

"It's just hard, you know?" Sarah's eyes dropped to the floor.

"I can imagine."

Her eyes rose again to meet his. "I do miss you, Jack. I've had a year to think about it and I miss you."

For the first time since he'd met Sam, Jack felt a strange tug somewhere in the back of his chest. It was probably that look Sarah was giving him, her wide, sad eyes. He swallowed thickly. He was almost afraid to ask what he was going to ask next, but knew he had to. There would be no way to progress with Sam until he worked out things with Sarah. "Are you saying you're still in love with me?"

Sarah seemed unable to answer. She just took a shaky breath and turned to look out the window. It was enough of an answer for Jack.

"Sarah we split up for a reason," Jack scooted forward, squinting a little. "It wasn't working, you know that. Even if we got back together now…"

"Yeah?"

"It wouldn't work. We were fighting too much and it was too hard on Charlie."

Sarah let out a heavy sigh. "So you're saying that you wouldn't be willing to put in an effort? Even for his sake?"

"Things change," Jack murmured.

"It's her, isn't it?" Sarah stood up, moving over to the window. A school bus had pulled up outside.

"It's a lot of things." Jack got up as well, walking cautiously over to Sarah. He could see Charlie getting off the bus, pausing when he recognized his father's truck then running happily up to the house. Jack put a hand on Sarah's arm. "I'm sorry."

Sarah turned to him. "Should I move on?" Her voice was barely more than a whisper and over it they both heard the sound of the front door opening.

Jack nodded.

* * *

Charlie paused in the doorway of the living room. His parents were standing by the window and as they noticed them he saw his father's hand fall from his mother's arm. Emotions swirled in his chest, confusion mostly as he wondered what he'd walked in on.

"I'm home," he said listlessly.

Jack grinned at him. "Hey, how was school?"

"Fine." Charlie's eyes flicked back between his parents, how his mom was standing next to his dad, looking like nothing had ever changed. He didn't quite know what to think.

"Is all your stuff packed?" Jack moved forward, away from Sarah.

"Uhuh," Charlie gripped the straps of his backpack tighter. "My suitcase is already at your house…so I'm ready to go."

"Great," Jack turned to Sarah. "I guess we'll see you when we get back."

Sarah nodded, trying hard to smile. "Right. Have fun." She walked over and hugged Charlie.

Out in the car Charlie sat in the passenger seat, leaning against the door and hugged his backpack to his chest.

"You got much homework, sport?" Jack asked.

Charlie shrugged, saying nothing.

As they pulled up to a stoplight, Jack turned to his son, looking concerned. "Are you ok?"

"I'm confused."

"Yeah, me too."

"Do you love Sam or not?"

"I love Sam very much."

Charlie blinked and straightened up. "And what about Mom?"

"I think your mom's going to be ok," Jack said. He reached out, giving his son's shoulder a comforting squeeze. "Come on now, you and me and Sam are going up north and we're going to have a lot of fun. Right?"

"Right." Charlie settled back in his seat, content for the moment.

* * *

"Why do we have to get up at five in the morning?!" Charlie whined as his father dragged him out of bed before the sun had even begun to rise.

Jack was already walking back to the doorway, now that he was sure his son was conscious. "Because Minnesota is a long way away and I'd rather not have to drive through the night."

"But it's five in the morning!"

Sam appeared in the door behind Jack, wearing jeans and a pink tank-top, drying her hair. She grinned. "You know, some days I'm already off world by now."

"Yeah, yeah but you've got military training. You don't count."

"Well, soldier," Jack said, glancing at his watch. "You've got until 0545 to get your clothes on and ready to go. We'll leave you to it." Turning, he and Sam headed out into the hall.

They got into the car about five minutes later than Jack had wanted, but by the time the sun burst up from the horizon they were zooming down a nearly deserted highway. Charlie was crammed in the small back seat of the truck, stretched out across the seat and playing with his gameboy. Jack was sitting back in the driver's seat, one hand on the wheel, the other curled around Sam's and resting on his leg. Sam's eyes were closed but it was obvious she wasn't asleep for every so often her eyes would open and she would peer out at the scenery going by.

At lunch they stopped at a small rest area, stretching out on the grass to eat. Charlie ate his sandwich quietly, leaving Jack and Sam to talk quietly.

Jack was rather pleased when he got back from the bathroom to find Sam and Charlie playing Frisbee, and laughed loudly when Sam did a nose-dive into the grass to try and catch the Frisbee.

"You guys ready to head out?" he asked, walking over to them.

Sam straightened up, brushing dirt off her clothes and nodded. "Yeah. Come on, Charlie, we can play some more at the cabin."

They drove for another few hours with the sun setting slowly to their left, stopping finally for dinner at a rest stop that had some fast food restaurants in it.

"So we've got a couple more hours of driving left," Jack said as they sat eating burgers at one of the tables in the food court. "It shouldn't be too late when we get to the cabin, so that's good."

As the adults talked Charlie looked around at the other tables. He saw worn out commuters and excited vacationers, but mostly there were families. In some cases the adults looked frazzled, the children unruly, but everyone seemed so happy. Glancing back at his father and Sam Charlie realized that to any outsider the three of them would appear just like any other family. The thought made him smile a little to himself because if he couldn't have his parents together again, at least this was the next best thing.

* * *

"So, campers, what's on the schedule for today?" Jack asked cheerfully. It was the next morning and the three of them were sitting on the front porch of the cabin eating pancakes and enjoying the already warm weather.

"Jet skiing!" Charlie cried.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Kiddo, this pond is still to small for jet skiing, I'm sorry."

"I'd be up for some hiking," Sam suggested.

"Hiking it is then." Jack nodded, then noticed the slightly annoyed expression on his son's face. "And if you don't like that you can just stay here and Sam and I will go…hiking…"

"Ugh." Charlie curled his lip when he caught the suggestive tone in his father's voice. "No, that's ok, I'll come with and supervise you guys. Gosh."

The rest of the day passed pleasantly, as most vacations do. They explored the woods around the cabin, spent the afternoon fishing unsuccessfully off the pier, and when the sun went down Jack built a roaring bonfire down near the water and they sat around it roasting marshmallows.

The next day was Saturday, and that was when things started to go wrong. It started with Sam's cell phone ringing in the middle of breakfast.

"I thought you turned that thing off," Jack said, scowling slightly.

Sam gave him an apologetic look. "The general wanted me to keep it on incase there was an emergency." Making a face at how few bars she was getting, Sam flipped the phone open. "Carter…Colonel? I can barely hear you…hang on a sec…" She stood and walked outside to try and get better reception.

Less than a minute later she came back inside, looking annoyed.

"Any luck?" Jack raised his eyebrows at her and she shook her head.

"No, I couldn't even make out what Colonel Kowalski was trying to say before the connection died."

"Hmm," Jack got to his feet, reaching over to collect the dirty dishes, then carrying them over to the sink. "Well, if you think it was important we could all drive into town after we get dressed. The sheriff might have access to a secure connection and you could try calling Kowalski."

Sam nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, lets do that."

It was just beginning to be the tourist season, and so there were a few other people out on the streets of the nearest town. Jack and Charlie sat outside a café drinking glasses of lemonade while Sam ran across the street to the sheriff's office.

"You don't think there's something wrong, do you?" Charlie asked, looking across the table to his father with a slightly worried expression.

Jack shrugged. "I hope not. I don't think so. I mean, I'm sure if there was an alien invasion at hand or whatever Sam would have known about it before now."

Charlie nodded glumly and returned to his drink.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Jack desperately wishing that they could have just had a nice vacation without any strange interruptions from his girlfriend's rather abnormal occupation. But maybe this was just a test to see if they were really meant to be together, and so Jack tried not to be too alarmed when he spotted Sam walking back towards them with a slightly worried expression on her face.

"Well?" he gestured towards the empty seat next to him. "Are we about to be attacked by extraterrestrials or what?"

Sam sank down into the chair. "Well…not really…I don't think…"

"You don't _think_?" Jack raised his eyebrows, feeling his level of alarm go up a few notches. Across the table from him, Charlie's eyes widened.

"Look," Sam leaned in closer, keeping her voice down. "Now don't freak out or anything, because nothing's been confirmed. We just received intelligence that a goa'uld might be on Earth. We don't know why, we don't know where, we're not even sure if the information is good or not."

"_A_ goa'uld? You mean there's a whole load of those snakeheads flying around?"

Sam nodded. "Yes, this particular one's name is Baal. We've only recently encountered him and don't really know what he's up to yet, but we do know he isn't too pleasant."

"Sam?" Charlie peered at her worriedly. "We're gonna be ok, right?"

Sam gave him a serious look, reaching out to put a comforting hand on his arm, though she included Jack when she spoke. "I swear I will do everything in my power to keep you guys safe if it comes to that." She gave Charlie's arm a light squeeze. "So yeah, you're gonna be ok."

* * *

A/N – Oh the dramatic irony is killing me here. Anyway, I realize they didn't encounter Baal until season 6, but obviously I'm taking some creative liberties here. And Baal is by far my fave goa'uld, so I just had to use that bad boy in my story :P


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 

The night was cloudless, and a few stray beams of moonlight fell through the open window, illuminating Sam's form as she sat up in bed, knees drawn to her chest. Jack was lying on his side, watching her and wondering what was going on inside that head of hers. The rest of Saturday had passed and all of Sunday without anything abnormal happening. But ever since she'd called back to the base Sam had been acting different. She still smiled and laughed and joked, but it all seemed put on, and every so often Jack would catch her frowning off into the distance.

"Hey," he sat up finally, reaching out to touch her arm. "Something has been bugging you big time, I can tell. Now I thought you said that everything was going to be fine."

Sam turned to look at him with an odd expression. "I said that so Charlie wouldn't get upset and you know it."

"So there is something going on!" Jack's eyes widened.

"Jack…" Sam sighed heavily, scooting a little closer to him. "What I said was true, we don't know what Baal is up to, if he is even on Earth. But if he is, chances are he's after either me, Colonel Kowalski, Daniel or Teal'c."

Jack settled himself into a more upright sitting position and cupped Sam's face in his hands. "Baby, I don't think an alien would come looking for you in Minnesota. Now seriously, Sam, you barely got any sleep last night. We're on vacation, for cryin' out loud!" he managed to smile at her through the semi-darkness. "Just try and relax a little."

Sam looked for a moment like she was about to argue, then she returned Jack's smile, leaning in to press her lips to his. Jack scooted closer, letting the kiss deepen, sliding his arms around Sam and starting to lower her back against the pillows.

It was then that they heard the loud crash and shout that split through the night air like a gunshot.

For a moment they froze, Sam with Jack's lower lip still caught between her teeth. They reacted simultaneously, then, hurling themselves out of bed. Jack grabbed the shotgun from the corner of the room and Sam dove into her suitcase and back out again, holding the strange looking weapon she'd told Jack was called a zat'n'ktel, or zat gun.

As Jack pushed open the door they said nothing, communicating enough in a frenzied glance. They could hear the sounds of a struggle and by the time they burst into the front room of the cabin they saw a huge hulking man in strange looking armor trying to wrestle Charlie towards the busted down front door.

"DAD! SAM!" Charlie managed to bellow before the man clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Let him go!" Jack roared, raising the shotgun at the huge form, though he knew in the back of his mind it probably wouldn't do much good.

"Lower your weapons, Tau'ri!" The man swung a strange weapon forward, something Jack hadn't seen before; it was a large staff like device with a bulb at the end pointed towards him. The man pushed a button and the bulb split into four parts that crackled with energy. "Lower your weapons or you will all die!"

Jack glanced towards Sam. She had a grim expression on her face and after gauging the situation for a few minutes, reluctantly let her Zat fall to the ground. Whatever the staff weapon could do, it must be bad. Jack gave Charlie a look, trying with all his might to tell him through expression to be brave, and lowered the shotgun. Something about the look Sam shot him out of the corner of her eye told him she had a plan.

The man smirked and pulled Charlie out of the door.

As soon as he was out of sight Sam snatched up her Zat once again. "Come on, Jaffa can be fairly stupid sometimes…" Motioning for Jack to follow she rushed out after the man.

The sight that greeted them in the cleared space before the cabin was enough to cause Jack to skid to a stop in his tracks. There were more of the men in the strange armor and standing in the middle with one arm around Charlie's limp form was another man, goateed and wearing extravagant red and gold robes. Jack pegged this other man as a goa'uld the instant his eyes glowed.

"Ah, Major Carter, so glad you could join us," the goa'uld said, smirking at Sam. She was advancing on him, zat gun raised and a stony expression on her face. "Now you of all people should really know that would have no effect through my shield."

"Look," Jack snapped, moving to stand next to Sam and aiming the shotgun at the man. "I don't know who the hell you are, Snakehead, but you'd better let my son go right now!"

The man turned to smirk at Jack now. "I don't think we've had the honor of being introduced yet, Jack O'Neill. I know you, but you, sadly, do not know me. I am Baal! I am a god, and so, you had better lower that primitive projectile weapon before you make me angry."

"And you'd better let go of my son before I blow your brains out, capice?!"

Baal sighed in a bored sort of way, raising one hand around which a gold device appeared to be wrapped. Before Jack had a chance to react a bolt of energy flew from the device, throwing Jack backwards a couple feet and knocking the gun from his hands. He was winded, but got back up again a split second later just in time to see the Jaffa around Baal aiming their staff weapons at himself and Sam.

"Now, Major Carter," Baal continued, passing Charlie to one of the Jaffa. "I would suggest you lower your weapon as well before we're forced to take more drastic action."

"Charlie hasn't done anything to you," Sam said, remarkably calm and not lowering her Zat. "Let him go, take me instead."

"Oh, I'm afraid it isn't going to work like that, Major," Baal's eyes flashed again. He had something in his hand now, something that looked suspiciously like a Zat gun. "At least not yet."

The last thing Jack saw before everything went black was the blue bolt of energy from Baal's zat coming right at him.

* * *

He awoke sometime later, pain lancing through his body and anxious voices surrounding him.

"Doc, over here!" it was definitely Kowalski. "I think Jack's waking up."

Hands were checking Jack's pulse and feeling his forehead. When he opened his eyes he saw the worried face of Dr. Fraiser peering down at him.

"Jack?" she said gently. "How are you feeling?"

Jack sat bolt upright, trying to push the small woman away from him. "Where's Charlie?!"

"Whoa, whoa Jack calm down!" Kowalski knelt beside Jack, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Easy there."

For a moment Jack took stock of his surroundings. He was still on the front lawn outside the cabin and the sky was glowing with early dawn light. Dr. Fraiser and Kowalski were on either side of him and he saw Sam sitting a couple feet away with the Jackson guy and the alien Teal'c. She had a blanket around her shoulders and looked agitated.

"Where's Charlie?!" Jack demanded again, turning to glare at Kowalski.

"From what Sam's said it sounds like Baal's got him," Daniel said from where he sat next to Sam.

Kowalski sighed. "And I bet going to rescue the kid would be playing right into the slimy bastard's hands."

"I don't care!" Jack roared, causing Janet to jump slightly. "We're going after my son!"

"Of course we'll go after him," Sam mumbled.

Daniel was nodding in agreement. "We've got a plane waiting to take us back to the base. We'll make plans from there."

A short while later they were flying back to Colorado Springs. Jack was pestering whoever he could get his hands on with questions, but they all seemed to be giving him the same answer; Baal didn't seem to be intending to harm Charlie, no doubt what he was doing was using the boy as a bargaining chip to get the members of SG-1 to come to him.

"We'll have to be careful," Kowalski said as they began to descend. "We want to get Charlie back, of course, but we don't want to give Baal what he wants if we can avoid it."

Things moved a little chaotically from there. Jack and Sam were ushered down to the infirmary to make sure they were suffering from no worse injuries, then Sam showed him to the locker room where he was lent a spare uniform to wear. Sam was called up to the briefing room after that and Jack trailed after her, not really sure if he was supposed to be going. General Hammond gave him an odd look as he sat next to Sam, but didn't object.

"I've contacted the tok'ra about our situation," the general leaned forward to address the team seated before him and folded his hands. "They've got an operative inside Baal's ranks and she's reported that he's taken Charlie to his mother ship. Major Carter, we're just waiting to hear back from your father. He was going to locate a cargo ship for us and accompany all of you to Baal's ship."

Sam nodded. "Great."

"Colonel Kowalski, I'm giving your team a go for this mission," Hammond gave Kowalski a stern look. "You'll depart as soon as Jacob Carter gets back to us."

"Sir," Jack butted in. "With all due respect, I'm going with."

Hammond scowled at him. "I'm afraid I can't allow that."

"This is my son!"

"I realize that, Colonel, but you've had no field experience with this sort of thing. I'd be sending you in completely unprepared."

"Uhm, General," Daniel said. "Need I remind you that when we went through the 'gate on the first mission to Abydos we had even less of an idea of what we were facing than what Jack has. None of us," he gestured around at SG-1, "have undergone any sort of official training program."

"And," Sam added, her eyes widening, "Sir, if you'll remember, the only reason I myself went on that Abydos mission was because the Air Force had asked Jack and he declined."

Jack stared at her. "What?"

"That request," Sam turned towards him. "About five years ago you got a request to return to active duty and join in a top-secret mission, right? You were telling me about it. I only recently put two-and-two together and found out that you were the qualified officer who turned down your place on the team."

"See?! There you go!" Jack gestured with one hand. "Sir, I spent several years with the black ops and far too long as a POW in Iraq, I think I'm ready to handle whatever is out there."

Hammond sighed, pursing his lips. He looked at Kowalski. "Colonel? What do you think?"

"I think, sir," Kowalski replied. "That Jack should be reinstated into active duty as a temporary member of SG-1."

"I agree," Sam added hastily.

"I concur as well." It was the first time Teal'c had spoken up and it surprised Jack a little to hear the deep rumble of the alien's voice. "I believe that a warrior often performs above and beyond his usual levels when defending a child. O'Neill would be a great asset in our rescue of young Charlie."

Jack nodded to him. "Thanks."

"Indeed." Teal'c bowed his head.

"Alright then." Hammond nodded at them all before turning to Jack. "Colonel O'Neill as of now you're back on active duty, just in case someone in Washington tries to pick a hole in this. You'll be accompanying SG-1 through the gate and I expect you to follow any directions given, even if they're from a lower ranking officer such as Major Carter."

"Understood, sir."

"Right. Colonel Kowalski, take your team down to the armory. I expect you to be ready the minute we hear back from the tok'ra."

Kowalski was already on his feet. "Yes, sir! Alright, team, lets move it!"

* * *

Jack examined the P90 in his hands, weighing it, lifting it to firing position and nodding admiringly at it. The team was standing in the Gate room, waiting for Jacob to come through and Jack was trying to do everything he could to distract himself from the sickening, twisted knot of worry lodged deep in his stomach.

"You know," Sam murmured, moving to his side. "I can tell something's wrong. You haven't made a single comment about seeing me in uniform."

Jack wasn't looking at her. Instead his attention was focused on the Stargate, which had suddenly sprung to life. "Sorry…I'm just thinking about other stuff…"

"It's alright." Sam patted his arm, then looked up at him. "It's going to be ok, Jack. We'll get Charlie back."

"Damn straight we…holy-!" Jack leapt backwards as a great rush of what appeared to be bright blue water leapt at him from the Stargate. It retracted into a shimmering puddle seconds later, and a second after that the surface rippled and Jacob Carter came marching down the ramp.

"Ok, I've got the ship waiting and it's all set to fly us out to Baal's mother ship," he said, walking over to the team. "We've even managed to get some valid identification codes thanks to our operative. And…Jack…what are you doing here?"

"I'm tagging along," Jack said, straightening up. "Seeing as it's _my son_ and all."

Jacob raised his eyebrows but shrugged. "Suit yourself…Now we're going to have to be very careful, as I'm sure you all know, because no doubt Baal's going to be expecting us." He looked around at the five people assembled before him. "Are you all ready to go?"

"Yes, sir!" Kowalski nodded, then turned to Hammond. "General?"

While they were talking the gate had shut off, but was now dialing again. Jack watched in detached fascination as the chevrons lit up, and then, finally the great swoosh shot outwards. He still jumped a little, but managed to restrain himself for the most part.

"Good luck and God speed, SG-1," Hammond said. "You have a go."

Kowalski and Jacob were the first up the ramp, followed by Teal'c and Daniel. Jack watched as the other four vanished into the rippling blue surface of the Stargate and he raised his eyebrows apprehensively, turning to Sam.

"So we just walk right through it?"

Sam nodded and they began walking up the ramp, side by side. "Yeah. It's no big deal. What you're seeing is the event horizon of a stable wormhole. Pretty much what happens is your molecules get disassembled and reassembled on the other side. It doesn't hurt at all, but you'll probably feel a bit nauseated when you step out. You get used to it after a while."

They were standing before the gate now, and Jack reached out one tentative hand to touch the surface. It rippled under his fingers, but didn't feel wet or cool as he'd expected it too. He turned to Sam.

"Do I trust you?" he raised his eyebrows.

"I certainly hope you do." Sam looked up at him. Then she smiled reassuringly and reached out, taking his hand in hers. "Come on, it only takes a couple of seconds."

Jack took a deep breath. He squeezed his eyes shut, fingers closing tightly around Sam's fingers. Together they stepped forward and through the Stargate.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N – Ok, I went back and did some MAJOR revising on this chapter, because I felt I'd copped out a bit. However I will warn you, the ending is perhaps one of the most random cliffhangers I've ever done…

* * *

Chapter 10

On the other side of the gate it was hot and windy, but Jack barely noticed the sand being blown in his face over the churning of his stomach. Seconds after stepping out of the Stargate he collapsed to his knees, just barely keeping down what little food was in his stomach. Sam knelt beside him, gently rubbing his back and offering what support she could. Moments later he sat back, breathing deeply but no longer feeling ready to throw up.

"Is this where Charlie is?" Jack asked, taking a long swing from the canteen Sam offered him and then slowly getting to his feet.

Jacob Carter, who was standing nearby, shook his head. "No, he's on Baal's mother ship. This is just where we've got a cargo ship standing ready to take us out to Baal. It shouldn't take more than an hour or so."

"Good." Jack stared around at the alien landscape. It wasn't that different from the deserts he'd been in on Earth, and certainly wasn't nearly as disconcerting as he'd expected it to be. "Uhm…where the hell are we, exactly?"

" PY7 – 0596," Sam replied as they began walking in a straight line from the gate. "About two thousand light years away from Earth."

"Son of a bitch…"

Jacob stopped seemingly in the middle of nowhere and the others clustered around him. Jack watched with curiosity as Jacob took out a small device and pressed a button on it. The air before them shimmered, then solidified into a small ship that was vaguely pyramidal shaped. Jack stared, but one glance from Sam told him it would take too long to explain. The group quickly hurried on board.

Everyone seemed to know their positions well. Jacob immediately took the pilot's seat and Teal'c the co-pilots; Sam and Kowalski headed towards the back to make sure the engines were up and running; Daniel went to the cargo bay to make sure the supplies were all intact. Jack stood in the corner feeling like a fifth wheel for a moment before walking over to Daniel.

"So how big is this mother ship exactly?" Jack crouched down next to Daniel who was closing up his pack.

Daniel gestured around at the ship. "A thousand times bigger than this thing, maybe more. You know the pyramids in Egypt?"

"Yeah…"

"It's like those."

"Crap…and we'll seriously be able to find Charlie in that?"

"We will," Daniel gave him a reassuring look. "I know it sounds crazy but we've pulled people out of worse situations than this. We'll get your son back; don't worry. And knowing Sam and Kowalski, they won't rest until we find him."

Jack nodded and looked down at the floor, cracking his knuckles in an agitated sort of way. "I just want to know that he's ok."

"I know." Daniel reached out and lightly touched his arm. "But if it's any consolation, Baal isn't stupid. If he's hoping to use Charlie to bargain with us he won't hurt him. But I know it's hard. My wife was taken by the goa'uld and…" his voice trailed off and he shook his head. "Never mind. But like I said, we'll get him back."

The ship sprang to life then and began to move. Everyone gathered in the cockpit and for a moment Jack was captivated by the sight of the ground rushing farther and farther away and then the sudden change as they burst through the atmosphere and into the darkness of space. Stars filled the front window, and it wasn't until after they'd made the spectacular jump to hyperspace that Jack realized Sam was at his side.

He turned to her and she stared up at him, eyes wide. "Jack…I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault," he shook his head.

"No, Jack, it is. It's my fault you and Charlie were ever exposed to this sort of danger! I was so selfish…"

Jack put his hands on her arms. "Sam…I can't talk about whose fault it is right now. I just want to concentrate on getting Charlie back, and then we can have this discussion, ok?"

She nodded, giving him a brief, sad hug before going to sit along one wall.

* * *

The overwhelming size of the mother ship had Jack once again standing by the front window, staring out, slightly slack jawed as Jacob's symbiote Selmak gave the proper identification codes to get them through the shields. Daniel had been right; it was like one of the great pyramids, albeit one that could fly through space.

"The cargo bays on the lower levels of the ship are very rarely used," Selmak explained as he piloted their small vessel closer to the huge form that now filled the front window. "They usually only have a couple of Jaffa guarding them so we should be able to sneak in through one of them."

Everyone fell silent as Jacob navigated their way in through the open bay doors. They spotted three Jaffa standing guard by the door that led into the interior of the ship, and Daniel, Teal'c and Kowalski had them taken care of before the others even got a chance to disembark.

"Ok, where to now?" Jack asked as they huddled in a dark corner of a nearby hallway.

Kowalski turned to him. "Charlie's probably either being kept in the holding cells, or Baal's got him in the throne room. I'm suggesting we split up. Danny, Jacob and Teal'c, you go check out the holding cells. Radio if you find anything. Me, Carter and Jack will head up to the throne room."

They all nodded, silently accepting their positions. Jack watched as Daniel, Teal'c and Jacob headed off down a side hall, then he turned and began following Kowalski with Sam bringing up the rear.

The halls of the lower levels were fairly deserted but as they got higher and higher they began to run into more Jaffa. If Kowalski could help it he'd pull Jack and Sam into a niche or cross hall to avoid the guards, but once or twice they were forced to engage.

"I won't be surprised if it turns out old Baal already knows we're here," Kowalski grumbled after the third time that happened. "We're being pretty noisy."

Jack, who was impatient to get up to the throne room, just gave Kowalski a look. "It's a big ship. Maybe we'll get lucky."

"Oh yes, we always get lucky…"

It was a wonder to Jack how Sam and Kowalski seemed to know their way around the twisting maze of halls. He himself had no idea how many left turns they'd taken or how many floors they'd gone up, but his two companions seemed to know exactly what they were doing.

Suddenly Kowalski motioned for them to stop, and they pressed against the wall, weapons raised. "See?" he whispered. "What'd I tell you? Lucky."

Jack peered around Kowalski and down the hall. Walking towards them he could see two armored Jaffa, holding between them a small struggling form that was unmistakably Charlie.

"Jack, wait a minute!" Kowalski had to grab Jack by the arm. "The less shooting we can do the better our chances of getting the kid out of here alive. Now, those guys are gonna come right past us. We'll keep our heads down, then jump out and zat them. Assuming they don't have back up right behind we should be good."

Much as he wanted to leap out and plug the bastards who had his kid full of lead, Jack nodded solemnly, remembering Hammond's orders. Kowalski pushed them further back from the main hall, tucking them into the shadow of a small niche that kept them out of sight. There they waited with baited breath until the Jaffa passed, then the three of them leapt out and Kowalski and Sam hit the two Jaffa with blasts from their Zats before the guards even had a chance to react.

For a moment Charlie stood there trembling, then with a cry he threw himself at Jack. "DAD!"

"Charlie!" Jack dropped to his knees, wrapping his arms around his son while Kowalski radioed the others. "Shit, Charlie, are you ok? Are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine I'm fine dad I justwannagohome!" Charlie sobbed, clinging to Jack and trembling.

"Guys, there's going to be time for that later," Kowalski said, a worried frown crossing his face. They could hear hurried footsteps coming from behind the closed door at the end of the hall. "We've gotta move it now!"

Half leading, half dragging Charlie, they began rushing back the way it came. It proved more difficult going than coming, however. They'd barely made it halfway back when a loud alarm blared throughout the ship and suddenly they turned the corner to find themselves face to face with a group of Jaffa.

"Charlie get down!" Sam shouted, reacting even faster then Jack as she threw herself between Charlie and the Jaffa, blindly opening fire with her P90.

Jack pushed Charlie to the floor and down into a corner as all hell broke loose. Over all of the firing and the explosions, however, the only sound he seemed to be able to hear were the terrified cries of his son. The second the smoke cleared they were running again, just ahead of, it seemed, another group of Jaffa.

The others were waiting by the ship when they finally made it back to the hanger, and Daniel quickly ushered them aboard.

"We already had to deal with a few Jaffa," the archaeologist said as the doors closed behind him. "I'm sure Baal's going to send more down here once he realizes this is where we are."

Jacob and Teal'c were already in the pilots' seats, preparing to take off. Jack was crouching on the floor of the cockpit near Charlie, making sure he was, in fact, unharmed. He was vaguely aware of Sam standing nearby, then her leaving as the ship pulled away from the mother ship, cloaking itself to defend against the weapons that were now powering up.

Once he was certain that Charlie was ok, Jack straightened up, turning to Daniel. "Where'd Sam go?"

"Back there." Daniel nodded towards the back room. He watched Jack for a moment expectantly, then tilted his head to one side when Jack didn't move. "Shouldn't you go talk to her, she looked a little upset."

"I don't know." Jack shrugged and sighed, leaning back against the wall. "If she's anything like me she'll want to have a little alone time right now."

Daniel nodded, then moved off to go help Kowalski with something.

* * *

Three hours later they were back inside the hustle and bustle of the SGC, and Jack found himself sitting in the hall outside the infirmary while Janet ran some tests on Charlie. She'd assured Jack that there was probably nothing wrong with the boy, but that it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Jack?"

He looked up and saw Sam walking over, a worried look on her face. "Hey," Jack slowly got to his feet.

"How's Charlie?" She looked up at him, wide eyed.

"Fraiser said he's probably going to be fine."

"That's good." Sam looked down at the floor for a moment, shuffling her feet before speaking again. "Jack…I'm so sorry…"

"It wasn't your fault."

Her head snapped up and she gazed at him with a furious, sad expression. "No, Jack, it is my fault! If I wasn't so selfish I wouldn't have held onto you for so long and Charlie wouldn't have been put into such danger!"

"What do you mean 'held onto me for so long'?" Jack stared at her, hardly daring to believe what he was hearing, mainly because it was exactly the thing that he himself had been unable to work up the nerve to say.

"I think for Charlie's sake we should end this." She was barely controlling her voice, and still it wavered a little as she spoke.

Jack's heart thudded painfully against the inside of his ribs. He had heard that before, could see the scene perfectly, him and Sarah standing in their living room after one of their big fights. Only this was different. He didn't want to lose Sam and somehow deep down he knew that ultimately it wouldn't change anything. "But can you ever stop caring about us?"

"Of course not." She was on the brink of tears now.

"Then that guy, that Baal, knows that he can still get to you by hurting us. Can't you see that, Sam? It's too late to protect us now." He narrowed his eyes. "So just stop acting like goddamn Spiderman and just accept the fact that I lo - "

"Don't say that!" Sam snapped, taking a step backwards. "Jack, nearly every man that I've loved has ended up dead! I don't want that to happen to you…or Charlie…I would never live with myself."

Biting back his own raging emotions, Jack stepped forwards and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Then protect us."

"What if I can't?!" Tears were forming in her eyes and a few splashed down her cheeks. "I couldn't protect Charlie this time what if I can't the next time? What if something worse happens?"

"But you saved him, Sam. You rescued him, and he's come out less harmed than if he'd been in a car crash and something tells me that a car crash would be far more likely to happen."

Sam sniffed loudly. "I'm not a superhero, Jack. It isn't fair to Charlie to put his life in danger just because we…" her voice trailed off.

"Because we love each other?" Jack said quietly.

Sam bit her lip and nodded, seeming unable to say it.

"Then let's ask Charlie."

"Fine."

They went back into the infirmary to find Janet finished with her tests and a slightly calmer looking Charlie sitting up in bed. He smiled sleepily at them as they walked over and took seats next to him.

"Hey, kiddo, how're you feeling?" Jack asked, ruffling Charlie's hair.

"Good." Charlie looked at the two. "What's wrong?"

"Look, sport, we've got to talk to you about something."

Charlie's eyes widened and for a moment he seemed to shrink back down into the pillows. "No…"

"It's not right for you to be put into this much danger because of me," Sam said, her voice calm.

"But…but what if you leave and then he comes after me again? Baal? What if he tries to get me again and you're not there to rescue me?!" Charlie was shooting horrified looks back and forth between the two adults. "What, do you two not like each other anymore?"

Jack and Sam exchanged a long look and Jack sighed heavily, reaching out to touch Charlie's shoulder. "Look…"

"NO!" Charlie shouted, pushing Jack's hand away roughly, his eyes blazing. "NO, you know what?! Fuck you both!"

"Charles Tyler O'Neill!" Jack roared, leaping to his feet. "I will not be spoken to like that!"

"Yeah, well you lied to me, Dad!" Charlie was halfway between screaming and sobbing now and across the room Janet had paused in what she was doing and glanced over. Charlie grabbed one of the pillows from behind him and threw it childishly at Jack. "You told me that we were going to be a family again! You and me and Sam! She's not Mom but she's probably as close as we'll ever get and I love her and now you're telling me that I can have that!"

Jack opened his mouth, closed it, forced himself to take a few deep breaths. "Charlie, you need to calm down. You've just been through a horribly stressful situation and I probably shouldn't have asked you about this."

"If you want me to calm down then tell me you're not breaking up with Sam!" Charlie narrowed his eyes accusingly. "You told Mom that you love Sam, now why don't you tell Sam that!"

Jack looked up and across the bed to where Sam stood. She had her eyes closed, but when she opened them, he could see that they were glistening with tears.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N – I would just like to thank Nyx Ro again for providing me with the perfectly fitting quote

Oh, and if anyone would be mortally offended by me making this a baby fic, I'd like to know.

And yeah, I have to have my soppy, shippy moments. Leave me alone. This is what being denied that sort of thing in the show has done to me.

And I know it's kinda short, but I've been uber busy lately with these horrible exams and stuff.

* * *

Chapter 11

Sam sat in the commissary with her face in her hands. She'd retreated there after nearly bursting into tears in the middle of the crowded infirmary. Now she sat at SG-1's usual table, attracting little attention from the late afternoon diners and wishing that there could be an easy way to fix all of this, some simple solution to settle the churning in her stomach.

She barely looked up when Daniel sat down across from her.

"Hey."

Sam exhaled loudly.

Daniel rolled his eyes and leaned in closer. "Are you ok? Janet said something happened."

"I have to let him go, Daniel," Sam said, looking at her friend miserably. "It's too dangerous for him and Charlie. Just look at what happened today!"

"It wasn't your fault."

"It wasn't my fault but it was still because of me!" Sam's eyes widened and she had to force herself not to shout. "Daniel, I don't want to be responsible for either of them dying!"

Daniel sighed, clasping his hands. His face developed that certain frown he got when he was pondering a particularly tough issue, and it was a good minute and a half before he spoke. "You know, I'm not usually into reading science fiction but I read this one book, _Memory_, by uh…" he thought a moment. "Lois McMaster Bujold."

"What's that got to do with anything?" Sam made a face.

"Well, in it a character asks the protagonist whether he has the right to marry a woman if she could possibly be killed for it. Similar dilemma to what you have."

"And…?"

"And, well, the protagonist replies that 'ordinary men and women…die every day. For all sorts of reasons, from random chance, to inexorable time. Death is not an Imperial monopoly'." The archaeologist tilted his head to one side, regarding Sam thoughtfully. "I know that you love Jack…and Charlie…that you don't want to see them hurt, but the truth is things can happen to them whether or not you're with them. And I think that if you are with them all of you will be a lot happier."

Sam looked down at the table, absently toying with a napkin. "I don't want to be responsible for their deaths."

"You won't be." Daniel put a hand on her arm reassuringly. "Sam, do you remember what Janet said about you after that whole thing with Cassie? That you've got a mother's instinct?"

"Yeah…" Sam nodded.

"There you go. I think if anyone can look after them, you can. And besides, you don't have to be so selflessly noble all the time," he said, squeezing her arm before standing up. "You deserve to be happy."

Sam watched him turn and walk out of the commissary before she too got to her feet.

* * *

Jack was standing near the end of Charlie's bed when Sam walked back into the infirmary. He turned around and the two stared at each other for a long moment before Sam stepped forward, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his chest.

Jack let out the breath he hadn't known he'd been holding and hugged her close to him. "Sam…oh god…"

Sam looked up at his face then down at Charlie who sat cross-legged on the bed. "I don't want to give you guys up."

"Good." Charlie slid off the bed and walked over to Sam and his dad, shyly leaning against Sam. "I don't want you to go."

"I won't."

Jack smiled then, weakly, for the first time since the day before (had it really just been yesterday that they were at the cabin? It seemed like so much longer than that…). He pulled Sam and Charlie into a tight embrace and none of them spoke for a long moment.

"Dad?" Charlie said, stepping back and giving his father a meaningful look. "Dad."

Jack nodded, then slipped an arm around Sam's waist. "Sam, sweetheart, I love you. I really do."

"I love you too." She found herself unable to control the grin that spread over her face.

"And, I know this sounds corny…" Jack leaned in closer so the tip of his nose brushed Sam's, "but you really do fill that empty space that I've had."

Charlie let out a groan and stomped one foot.

"Hey, sport, will ya be quiet for a minute?" Jack turned, glaring down at his son in mock fury.

"No," Charlie said, eyes widening. "Dad, why do you have to be like that? Save it for when you guys are alone. I just wanna know if I'm going to have family again. I mean a real family."

Jack looked to Sam. "I don't know, that's up to Sam." He brushed a lock of hair out of her face, tenderly, letting his thumb graze across her cheek. "Would you be part of our family? Would you…" his next question caught in his throat and he pursed his lips over it.

"Would I what?" Sam raised her eyebrows.

"Nothing," a faint blush rose in Jack's cheeks, making Sam giggle quietly. "I'll ask you later. Just answer the first question."

"Jack, I would love to be part of your family."

"See how long that took you guys?" Charlie cried. "That was stupid! You could have done that hours ago and saved all the trouble…I'm gonna go change into my regular clothes…" Grabbing his clothes from the chair next to the bed, Charlie turned and headed towards the bathrooms.

Sam leaned in closer to Jack. "And your other question…"

"I said I'd ask you later."

"You know my answer's going to be yes."

Jack smiled and kissed her lightly. "I know. I'd just rather do it officially when I have some over-priced hunk of platinum and diamond to hand you in one of those fancy little velvet boxes."

Sam snorted. "Don't overdo it."

"With you? Not even possible."

* * *

"So I heard _someone _has gotten engaged," Janet said coyly as SG-1 sauntered into the infirmary for their pre-mission checkup.

Sam, sitting herself down on the edge of one of the beds, rolled her eyes. "Yeah yeah. Why's everyone so…gossipy about it?"

"Because, Carter, you're generally not the type of girl to walk around with a huge rock on her finger," Kowalksi sat next to Sam, slapping her playfully on the back.

"I'm not walking around with a huge rock on my finger." Sam looked down at her hand, splaying her fingers to better look at the ring. It wasn't huge. It was beautiful, but could hardly be called huge, especially by today's standards. It had been, like a few other things, Jack's doing, and Sam found herself unable to protest.

Janet leaned in on the pretense of wrapping a blood pressure cuff around Sam's arm. "It's beautiful."

Sam grinned up at her friend, the same grin she'd been wearing for the past week. She had known it had been coming, of course, but there was still something especially romantic about having him pull out the ring after driving her up into the mountains on the back of his motorcycle.

Now that it was "official", Sam found it even harder to think of anything but Jack. They'd spent most nights of the past week sitting up late in bed, making plans, discussing what the future would hold and when she wasn't with him Sam found herself constantly replaying the conversations in her head.

* * *

"No churches." Jack was lying back against the pillows, running his fingers through Sam's hair with his other arm folded behind his head. "Neither of us are religious enough to do a church."

Sam's eyes were closed but she wasn't asleep. "We could always just go to a registry office then have a party with our friends afterwards."

"But I want to see you in a dress." Jack said, pouting when Sam looked up at him.

"What is it with you?" She narrowed her eyes, propping herself up on one elbow and looking down at him. "First the ring, now the dress."

"Call me sentimental. Besides, I don't think your dad would object to getting to walk you down the aisle."

"I'll have to invite my family then…" Sam sighed and flopped back against the bed, snuggling up against Jack. She tried thinking of him as her husband for a moment and it sent a delightful little warm tingly feeling running up from her stomach. "I love you." She pressed even closer and kissed the side of his neck.

Jack rolled more onto his side, wrapping both arms around Sam. "I love you too. We're going to be happy, I just know it. It'll be perfect."

"Nothing's perfect."

"Pessimist."

"Would it really be all that great if we _never_ got into arguments?" She let her fingers play lightly over the skin of his shoulder.

He contemplated her words for a moment, then shrugged and kissed her. "I'd rather avoid that sort of thing but you're probably right."

"So a park, maybe?"

"Huh?" Jack blinked at her.

Sam laughed. "The wedding. We could have it in a park."

"That works for me, just as long as you're not beamed away by any aliens in the middle of it. Because you know, if that happens, I'm going to be pissed."

Sam laughed, leaning over to cover his mouth with another kiss.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N – Just a quick dedication/thank you to Nyx Ro for the second scene here.

* * *

Chapter 12

"Carter, didn't I order you to get a life or something? Come on, no more working past ten."

Sam looked up to glare at her CO as he walked into her lab. "For your information, sir, I'm not working. I'm planning my wedding."

"Sounds like work to me." Kowalski made a face, pulling up a stool and sitting down next to her. "How goes it?"

"Good." Sam squinted at the screen of her laptop where she was scrolling through various websites of places to get married in Colorado. "Well, sorta good. It's tricky deciding exactly what we want to do. I mean, I think we're just going to end up having a small ceremony with friends and family. Like all of you and Janet and everyone."

"Huh. Doesn't sound that tricky to me."

"Oh it is, trust me."

Kowalski shrugged. "Whatever. How's Jack handling it?"

"Freaking out in the way only Jack can." Sam grinned, then her eyes widened. "Oh! I almost forgot. We're having a get together at Jack's place on Sunday, barbeque and all that. It'll just be SG-1, Janet and Cassie, then me and Jack and Charlie."

"Sounds great, count me in." Kowalski stood up and patted Sam on the shoulder. " Have a good night, Carter."

Sam nodded, returning to her computer. "I'll see you tomorrow, sir."

Her mind wandered for a moment, as it had been doing for the past few weeks. No, scratch that, as it had been since she'd met Jack. It was strange to think that she was actually _getting married_ now, and especially to someone like Jack. He was so different than the other men she dated that it was almost shocking. What had possessed her to fall in love with him? Was it the ruggedly good looks, that voice, those eyes, his humor that seemed to pop out when least expected and most needed, the way his hands could glide over her body and make her…

Get a grip on yourself, Sam. The last thing you need is to start drooling all over your computer.

* * *

Sam looked over her shoulder at Jack who was standing in the kitchen doorway, tying the strings of the Homer Simpson barbeque apron that she had gotten him. Rolling her eyes, Sam abandoned her post by the stove to go lend a hand. "Come on, you're excited, admit it."

"Of course I am." Jack grinned at her. "What's not exciting about having my fiancée's space trooping friends over?…Hey what's that little smirk about?"

"Nothing. Fiancée."

"Oh."

"Yeah. There you go." Sam finished tying and placed her hands on Jack's chest, tilting her chin up to kiss him chastely. "Now go get that stuff started, they'll be here any minute."

"Sure thing," Jack said, giving her a rather over-zealous salute. "Where'd Charlie vanish off to?"

"His room, probably. I told him he needs to be out here to say 'hi' to everyone."

Jack laughed.

"What?"

"Nothing. You're just going to make a great mom." Unsure of how to interpret the look Sam was giving him, Jack shot her another cheeky grin and vanished through the doors out onto the patio.

Sam rolled her eyes and returned to the potato salad. She was starting to get used to this, to spending most of her time at Jack's house, to being around him so much. It was nice. They were already making plans on moving in together, and Sam had no qualms about selling her house and joining Jack and Charlie; her house had never really felt like _home _to her anyway, seeing as before Jack she spent most of her time on the base. Hence the reason Kowalski was constantly telling her to get a life.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell ringing, and Sam was amused to find herself barely halfway to the door when both Charlie and Jack appeared out of nowhere.

"Who is it?" Charlie asked, leaning on the wall and trying to look as unimpressed as possible.

Sam just smiled at him, wiping her hands off on a dishtowel before walking forward and opening the door. Janet and Cassie were standing there and Janet handed Sam the pan she was holding.

"Hey. Cassie insisted on bringing cake, so here we are." Janet grinned and exchanged a one-armed hug with Sam.

Jack grinned. "Cake is good. We can appreciate good cake here."

"As the man said." Sam chuckled, reaching out to hug Cassie as well. "Cass, this is Jack."

"Hey." Cassie nodded at Jack in the exact same apathetic-teen manner that Charlie did.

"And," Sam gestured over at Charlie, who was still leaning against the wall. "Cass, this is Jack's son Charlie. Charlie, I'd like you to meet Janet's daughter Cassie."

For a moment the two kids looked at each other, sizing one another up before either dared to speak.

"Hey."

"Sup." Charlie blinked around at the adults, then rolled his eyes and turned back to Cassie. "I've got some video games and stuff in the living room. Wanna go…?" He gestured vaguely behind him and Cassie nodded, following him through to the other room.

Janet chuckled quietly. "Well that was far less painful than it could have been. So, Sam, tell me what I can give you a hand with…"

The others drifted in a little while later and soon the house was filled with the smell of barbeque and the sound of laughter as the adults all took turns trying to beat Charlie and Cassie at various video games. Jack was the only one able to hold his own against either of the teens, and even he suffered more than a few humiliating defeats.

"Ok, I give up," he said finally, tossing aside the game controller and getting to his feet. "Who wants another beer?" While Cassie took his spot in front of the television, Jack returned to the kitchen where he was joined a minute later by Kowalski.

"Hey, Jack, I thought I'd give you a hand."

"Thanks." Jack handed him a couple bottles, then narrowed his eyes at the look Kowalski was giving him. "What?"

Kowalski sighed, setting the beers down. "Let me be serious with you for a minute, Jack. Now, we've been friends for a long time, but I care about Carter a lot. I owe her my life several times over, so I'm gonna say this to you; if you don't act like a complete gentleman with her, I swear I'll hurt you so bad…"

"Kowalski, I'd never do anything to hurt her, you know that."

"Yeah, well," Kowalski grinned at him. "I just have to make sure." He grabbed the beers again and headed back out to the living room.

Jack knew he should have honestly expected that, especially from Kowalski. So he wasn't so surprised when he got the exact same warning from the large, generally silent and very intimidating Teal'c a little while later on the back patio, and then from Janet when she and Cassie were leaving.

"Jack, you'd better be good or else you'll wake up with a very large needle stuck up your ass."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Did anyone ever tell you you're a Napoleonic power monger?"

"Mmm, something to that extent," Janet cracked a grin at him. "Anyway, thanks for having us over, it was great."

"Right," Jack held the door open as she and Cassie stepped out into the night. "I'm sure I'll be seeing you soon, you two."

"Bye," Cassie called, waving.

Jack grinned, waving back before closing the door and returning to the others in the living room.

Teal'c and Kowalski were the next two to leave, both heading back to the base. Daniel stayed behind to help Jack and Sam clean up, and while Charlie vanished mysteriously off to his bedroom the three adults began picking up the trash and taking empty bottles and used dishes into the kitchen.

Jack was putting plates into the dishwasher when Daniel came in with an armful of bottles. "So, Jack - "

"I know what you're going to say, Daniel," Jack said, turning around. "And I've already gotten the same thing from everyone else. I would never be anything but kind and respectful towards Sam, so you don't need to worry."

"That's great," Daniel chuckled. "But I was actually just going to ask where your recycling was…"

* * *

Jack frowned down at the piece of paper in his hands, worrying his lip with his teeth, then looking up at Sam. "Looks good to me."

"You sure?" She cocked her head to one side, absently tossing the cordless phone from hand to hand. "Because once I call the caterer I'm not going to change it."

"It's fine." He held the paper out to her and Sam took it.

Now it was her turn to frown down at it. "And you're sure that's all your family that you want to invite?"

"Sweetheart, that's all the family I have that knows me well enough to give a rat's ass that I'm getting married." He almost added on 'again', but didn't really feel all that comfortable reminding Sam that this was the second time he was going through this.

Sam smiled at him, then strolled over to the desk and picked up the business card of the caterer they'd chosen before dialing the phone.

Jack sat back down on the couch with a sigh, ruffling one hand through his hair. Half of him wished he didn't have to bother with through all the hassle and stress of planning a wedding, but the other half knew that it would be worth it, if only to see Sam walking down the aisle towards him.

Sam finished with the caterer and walked back over, sitting down next to Jack and slipping an arm around his waist. "Ok, well that's one less thing that we have to worry about."

"Yeah, so what's left?"

"Some finishing touches. Janet and I are heading over to the bridal shop for a final dress fitting this weekend." She sighed and leaned against Jack, putting a hand on his chest. "Argh, by most standards we're just doing a relatively _simple_ wedding, and yet there's still such a ridiculous amount of planning to go through."

Jack chuckled. "I'm sure we'll survive. You kill aliens for a living, remember? This should be a piece of cake."

"Oh, god, cake, that was the next thing I had to tell them; what kind of cake we wanted for the reception, Jesus, I don't – "

"Sam. Sam. Shush." Jack put two fingers to her lips. "It doesn't have to be done this second. Just, take a break for a minute, ok?"

Sam groaned, leaning back against the couch and laughing. " 'Break' isn't in my vocabulary, Jack, you should know that."

"What if I made you take one?" Jack leaned over her, pinning her to the couch.

"Not going to let me go until I get some rest?" Sam raised her eyebrows.

"No," Jack leaned in to place a searing kiss on her lips. "Rest wasn't _exactly _what I had in mind, oh fiancée of mine."

Sam chuckled into the next kiss, allowing herself to actually take Jack's advice and relax for a moment. Her hands began to wander down towards the hem of his shirt. "We have how long until Charlie gets home?" she murmured.

"Hour and a half."

"Perfect."

* * *

"Are you happy now, Kowalski?" Jack demanded while examining himself in the full length mirror. He turned to narrow his eyes at his friend. "Your little scheme has worked it out just as far as it can go."

Kowalski glanced up from fiddling with his cuff links. "Eh? Oh no no, Jack my friend don't think you're off the hook just yet!" he laughed. "You've got a bit of a ways to go with her still."

"Excuse me?" Jack raised his eyebrows. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Kids, Jack, little children," Kowalski slapped his friend on the back.

"Uhuh. And what's it to you if Sam and I have children?"

"Well," Kowalski's expression actually grew serious for a moment, and he gave Jack's shoulder a squeeze, "You and Carter are probably some of the closest things to siblings I've ever had in my life. I wouldn't mind having some little guys running around calling me 'uncle'." He grinned. "And I'm sure the rest of the team wouldn't mind it either."

Jack made a face, shrugging Kowalski's hand off his shoulder. "Yeah yeah, I'll get started on that tonight, I promise."

"Good man. You ready to go? They wanted us to be at the park plenty early."

Jack looked at himself in the mirror again and swallowed thickly, blinking at the tuxedo-clad figure staring back at him. "Well, here goes nothing."


	13. Chapter 13

A/N – Over 200 reviews, that's a new record for me! I'd like to thank everyone for their support, comments and appreciation. It really makes writing worthwhile :) I apologize for the lateness of this, but I just graduated from high school and I'm sure you can all appreciate how crazy things get around that time…

On another note, I don't generally do too well with writing weddings, but I know people would feel cheated if I didn't have this in here, so here's my best attempt. I'm afraid I underdid myself however, and this chapter just turned into more of a bridge between the first and second parts of the story. Oh well.

* * *

Chapter 13

The day couldn't have been more perfect. As Jack stood at the front of it all, nervously shifting his weight from foot to foot, he marveled at how everything seemed more like a scene from a movie than real life; the sun was shining, birds were singing, and the air was just warm enough to be pleasant rather than too hot. Jack himself was in a daze and no amount of reassurance from Kowalski would change that. It was just that he couldn't believe that he was suddenly _here_, again, except this time he knew deep down that it was going to work out.

Then the music started, interrupting his thoughts. His eyes were immediately drawn to the end of the aisle, because there was Jacob, actually wearing a suit and beaming proudly and…Sam. Sam looking so radiantly gorgeous that if anyone asked Jack to describe how she looked all he'd be able to do would be demonstrate the look of slack jawed, wide eyed wonder he had on his face when she began walking towards him.

Jack had to force himself to actually listen to everything being said. His eyes were on Sam the whole time and each little smile she gave him made his heart skip a beat. Again he wondered how he'd gotten here, how everything had worked out so well.

Then came the "I do's" and suddenly he was pulling her into his arms and kissing her and then there was a chaotic mass rush to congratulate them. Somehow they all managed to get to the pavilion where dinner was being served, and Sam had to practically lead Jack over to their table and make him sit down.

"See? You're still alive," she said, looping her arms around his neck and kissing his cheek. "And now you're all mine."

Jack grinned at her and returned the kiss.

He was glad, ultimately, that they'd splurged a bit with the caterer as the food was superb. He was glad too that they hadn't ended up inviting too many people because it gave everything a more intimate and friendlier atmosphere.

After the final plates were cleared away and the DJ was set up, Jacob came over to swoop Sam away for the father-daughter dance and Jack wandered over to where his friends were standing along the side. A moment later Charlie appeared at his side, apparently having been able to pull himself away from the couple other kids his age.

"Hey, kiddo," Jack said, ruffling his son's hair.

Charlie grinned up at his father. "Hey. You look really out of it."

"I feel really out of it," Jack said, still following Sam and Jacob with his eyes. He noticed that other couples were joining them; Daniel had pulled Janet out onto the floor, and even Kowalski seemed to have enchanted one of Sam's cousins into dancing with him. "You'll understand when you get married."

"Ugh, whatever."

"Hey, why don't you see if Cassie would want to dance with you?" Jack nudged his son with his elbow, grinning.

"What?!" Charlie gave him a horrified look. "Dad! I don't dance! And especially not with girls."

"Suit yourself, you don't know what you're missing," Jack said, shrugging. The song ended so he headed over to Sam and Jacob. "Mind if I steal my wife back, Dad?"

Jacob rolled his eyes. "You just take care of her, Jack, you hear me?" he leaned in, speaking in a hushed tone. "I've got the whole tok'ra fleet to back me up, so watch it."

"Don't worry! Sheesh." Jack folded Sam close to his side, then gave her an exasperated look. "How many more people can I expect to threaten me?"

"Oh, I don't know," Sam slid her arms around his waist as the next song started. "Probably about half a galaxy."

"Only half?" Jack raised his eyebrows.

Sam just smiled and pressed closer to him.

* * *

"_This_ is beyond perfect," Jack said. He was standing before a huge picture window that overlooked a spectacular vista of the mountains. Said window was in a room at a swanky resort hotel which Jacob had booked for them as a present. "The only thing that could make it better would be if there was a nice lake for fishing."

Sam, who had just come out of the bedroom after changing, scoffed. "Fishing? Excuse me?!"

"Sorry," Jack turned, walking over and reaching out to her. "I just meant….never mind…ignore me."

"I'd rather not." She draped her arms around his neck, placing a slow, burning kiss on his lips. "That's not why we're here, after all."

Jack swallowed thickly. "Of course not, now just as long as the galaxy doesn't need saving…"

"Well…"

"You _did_ leave your cell phone at home, right?"

"Yes, Jack, I left my cell phone at home," Sam murmured, giving him a placating kiss on the lips.

The rest of the night went too fast for Jack. It was one of the most amazing nights of his life, and yet before he knew it the clock on the dresser was showing a ridiculously late hour, and Sam was asleep, curled at his side in the center of the huge king sized bed.

Jack sighed, folding one arm behind his head and curling the other around Sam. If he had known that he could feel like this again, maybe he wouldn't have spent so long sitting around feeling sorry for himself. And yet…No, he wasn't going to think about Sarah. This was hardly the time.

* * *

Jack opened his eyes, glancing around the sunlit bedroom and smirking contentedly to himself. Sam was still asleep next to him, and all was quiet, but a quick look at the clock told Jack that in approximately three minutes the alarm would go off, Sam would wake up, and their morning routine would start. They'd been married nearly two months now and already life had settled down into a comfortable and pleasant state.

Next to him Sam woke up, mumbling incoherently under her breath as she reached over to turn off the alarm which had not yet gone off, then rolling over to rest her head on Jack's chest.

"I said you shouldn't have stayed up so late last night," Jack said, running his fingers through her hair. " I told you it would make it hard to get up in the morning."

Sam propped herself up on one elbow to glare blearily at him. "Honey, I've stayed up far later than that with no problems getting up in the morning. Besides, I had that report to finish on the molecular stability of naquadah in the practical application of power generation."

Jack blinked at her silently for a few minutes then said, "That sounds sexy."

"Oh God."

"I'll go make some coffee and drag the kid out of bed," Jack said, leaning over to kiss her gently. "You take your time, I'll just be in the kitchen."

A short while later the three of them were all in the kitchen, Charlie standing at the counter and making his lunch while Jack and Sam sat at the table, sipping at their coffee.

"You gonna fight aliens today?" Charlie asked.

Sam laughed. "You know I'm not supposed to talk about missions."

"Awww…."

Chuckling quietly into his coffee cup, Jack shook his head. His life might be perfect right now, but it was perfect in a strange sort of way. Normal people would wish their wives luck at the office, but his was going off to another planet to chase around after aliens. Strange, yes, but totally awesome.

"Oh, I've got to run, guys," Sam said, glancing at her watch and leaping to her feet. "I'll see you later tonight." She leaned over to give Jack a kiss, then exchanged a quick hug with Charlie before hurrying out the door.

* * *

It was days like these when Sam began to realize just how hard it was to be part of a top secret military program and have a family. SG-1 had a mission that would take them nearly two days to complete, and it would be the first time since her marriage that Sam would have to spend the night off world. She found, much to her dismay, that it made her slightly homesick and homesickness, in turn, made her irritable.

"Hey, Carter, why the long face?" Kowalski demanded as the team sat around the campfire late in the evening. "You just found a whole room full of fancy little doohickeys to test. Cheer up a little!" When Sam continued to look sullenly into the flames he picked up a short stick and poked her in the arm.

"Sir." She scowled at him.

"Hey, I'm only sayin'…"

"Kowalski!" This was Daniel from across the fire, where he sat trying his best to down one of the MREs they'd brought along. "Just leave her alone, you're pissing her off."

"Indeed it would appear that Major Carter is quite prepared to attack you, Colonel Kowalski," Teal'c added smugly, if a Jaffa could be smug.

Kowalski pouted. "Hey! Who's the colonel around here anyway? I think I should be allowed to strongly suggest that my second in command be a little more cheerful."

"Sir, if you want me to cheer up then send me back home," Sam said, crumpling up her own empty MRE wrapper and tossing it into the flames.

"Oh, I get it." Kowalski rolled his eyes. "Little Miss _Just-cause-my-reproductive-organs-are-on-the-inside-instead-of-the-outside_ is missing her dearly beloved Jack O'Neill."

Sam gave him a sarcastic sneer. "That's Mrs. _Just-cause-my-reproductive-organs-are-on-the-inside-instead-of-the-outside_, to you, sir."

"You know, Carter, if I was anyone else I'd probably take that as insubordination. So you'd better be glad you're my best friend's wife." He stood up, stretched, and grinned at the eye rolls he was getting. "Well, I think I'll be hitting the sack. Danny take first watch, I'll take second." With one last cheerful wave he vanished into one of the tents.

Across the slowly dying flames, Sam and Daniel exchanged a look, each slowly shaking their heads.

They were all very muddy and tired by the time they returned back to Earth, the second day on P7Y-942 having boasted of a rather powerful rainstorm. Hammond gave them a chance to shower, visit the infirmary, and then ordered them all up for what would undoubtedly be a very long and uninteresting debriefing.

Sam sat in her usual spot, half listening to Kowalski talk and half summarizing in her head the more interesting points of what she had discovered. She was so lost in her own bored stupor that she barely recognized the sound she heard as her own cell phone ringing, though when all eyes turned towards her she leapt up, shooting them all apologetic looks.

"How do I even get reception down here…" she muttered to herself while glancing down to see who was calling. Charlie. Great. She sighed and looked to Hammond. "Sir…I should probably take this. It could be an emergency." It better damn well be an emergency.

Hammond nodded. "Very well. You can step into my office to take it, if you need to, Major."

"Thank you, sir." Sam slipped around behind his chair and into his office before flipping open the phone. "Charlie, I am in the middle of a mission debriefing!"

"Yeah, Sam, I'm really sorry…" Charlie said. In the background Sam could hear what sounded like the rush of rain pouring down. "But, uhm…I'm kinda stranded and it would be really cool if you could pick me up 'specially because it's starting to storm."

"Well, where are you?"

"At that custard stand outside of town. You know, 'Scoops'. The new place."

Sam knew it. It was an outdoor custard and hamburger stand that had just opened up and was apparently quite a popular spot for kids Charlie's age to hang out. Taking a few deep breaths Sam leaned back against the edge of Hammond's desk. "And why can't your dad come pick you up?"

"Well, for one thing he'd be really pissed because I'm actually not supposed to be here right now," Charlie laughed nervously. "And I tried calling him anyway and he didn't answer. So look, I will seriously be in your debt forever if you come get me right now."

"Just hang on for a sec." Donning a particularly annoyed look, Sam stuck her head out into the briefing room and was relieved to see the others packing up. Daniel made a gesture towards her notes to show that he'd gone over them for her.

Hammond raised his eyebrows. "Major?"

"If it's alright, sir, I have to go." Sam gestured towards the phone. "Teenager."

"I understand, we're done here anyway," Hammond said, chuckling. "You're dismissed, Major."

Sam gave him a tight smile before stepping back into the office. "Ok, Charlie, I'll be there in two minutes."

* * *

"When we get home you're going to tell your dad where you were."

"Saaaammmm-!"

"Hey." She turned to give Charlie a stern look. "I didn't _have_ to come pick you up. The least you can do in exchange is be honest with your dad. Besides, you were the one who decided to skip tutoring to go get ice cream."

Charlie sank lower in his seat, scowling. "I'm already soaked and my stupid Game Boy is probably water logged. Isn't that punishment enough?"

They pulled up to a stoplight and Sam pinched the bridge of her nose. She sighed heavily, thinking back to when she was his age. "I suppose I could talk to your dad about not grounding you for life over it…"

"You know you're the coolest stepmom ever, riiiiggghhht?" Charlie said in a sly tone, grinning at Sam.

"Don't push your luck." She flipped on the windshield wipers.

"I'll buy you a hamburger."

"I said I'd talk to your dad, alright?!" Sam shot him a glare. "Now just…be quite until we get home."


	14. Chapter 14

A/N – I shall not bore you with excuses about the delay. But here it is, the next installment. This is really turning in to quite a novel…and I still have more ideas…and more…and more… :P Please enjoy.

* * *

Chapter 14

Shortly after Sam and Charlie got home, Jack entered carrying an armful of groceries. He looked rather surprised to see both of them home already, and looked even more surprised when Charlie slipped mysteriously off into his bedroom.

"Is something going on that I should know about?" Jack asked, walking over to Sam.

She shrugged, loosely draping her arms around his shoulders. "He's just being a teenager, that's all."

"Am I going to have to ground him?"

"I don't think so." Sam leaned in and teasingly nipped at his lips. "I love you."

"Ok ok," Jack smiled, wrapping his arms around Sam's waist and forgetting entirely about being mildly annoyed at his son. "I love you too, baby, but dinner isn't going to cook itself."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Go on, then."

Jack kissed her again and managed to disentangle himself from her, taking a step back. He'd barely turned and started towards the kitchen before a bright flash of light filled the hall. Jack froze. "Sam?" When he got no reply he turned around, gaping at the now empty space behind him. "SAM?!"

"Dad? What's wrong?" Hearing his father's shouting, Charlie had come bolting out of his room, eyes wide.

"She's gone!" Jack rushed to the door, pulling it open as though expecting to find Sam standing on the front porch. He whirled around to face his son with a perplexed look on his face. "I turned around, there was a bright flash of light, and now she's gone!"

"Sam was probably just abducted by aliens or something…"

"This isn't funny!"

Charlie sighed, rolling his eyes and muttering, "Seriously? Just think about what she does for a living…"

* * *

Out in far orbit of the planet, standing on the bridge of a huge, cloaked ship, Samantha Carter clapped her hands over her face and groaned. "Thor! I thought I'd asked you not to do this anymore!"

"I apologize, Major Carter." The small grey alien walked out from behind one of the consoles and blinked up at her. "I hope I was not interrupting anything."

"No…" Sam let her hands fall to her sides. "But you probably just gave my husband a heart attack."

"I apologize." Again, Thor seemed to not care in the least. "However, we have discovered something that I believe will be of great interest to you."

Sam sighed. "What is it?"

"Follow me."

Thor led her out of the bridge and down a corridor to what seemed to be a small hanger bay. Sitting in the middle of the space was a small, sleek, triangular shaped ship that wasn't even close to the size of a goa'uld cargo ship. It wasn't like anything Sam had seen before, but she did recognize the markings along the side…

"It's Ancient!" Her annoyance momentarily gone, she walked forward to run her hand along the smooth metal of the hull.

"Yes," Thor said, nodding. "We found it in orbit around a deserted planet. We'd found evidence of these smaller attack vessels before but this is the first intact one that we have discovered. After we studied it the council decided that it would be beneficial to allow you to have it."

Sam nearly choked. "What?! You're giving this to us?"

"We are." Thor nodded. "We will be observing any research you conduct, however, we have decided that you might be able to learn from it and improve your own ships."

"Wow…I don't even know where to begin thanking you…" Sam noticed that the entrance ramp to the ship was lowered and cautiously she climbed inside. There were a few separate rooms; a cockpit, cramped sleeping quarters, a storage chamber, and another multipurpose room.

Thor followed her. "It was intended for sustaining two people, with the possibility of a third in an emergency. You will find that there are drone-based weapon systems, as well as navigational systems and a program capable of dialing the Stargate."

"How many of the systems work?"

"We will not know until someone with the proper genetics attempts to operate it."

"Right." Sam walked through to the cockpit, staring around in wide eyed amazement. She knew several people back at the SGC that would be positively bursting to get their hands on this. Curiously Sam reached out to brush her hand over some complex looking control mechanisms.

She jumped when everything lit up and glancing at Thor she saw what she presumed was a surprised expression on his face.

"That is most strange…" Thor said, taking a few steps closer.

"Wait…so it works without the Ancient gene?" Sam frowned.

The alien shook his head. "No. It does require the gene. Apparently you must have it."

"But I don't! We've run tests, I've come in contact with Ancient technology before and it's never responded to me!" Sam scowled. "How can I suddenly just have a new gene in me that I didn't have before? Especially one like this."

"I believe that I may have an answer to that, Major Carter. Follow me."

Sam sighed, begrudgingly following him back out of the ship and hoping that he did realize she needed to be home in time for dinner.

* * *

Her reappearance in the middle of the kitchen caused far more of a stir with Jack than it did with Charlie. She had barely been gone for half an hour, but Sam had forgotten what things like being beamed up by an Asgard would look like to someone who had no clue what was going on.

"SAM!" Jack rushed over, grabbing her by the shoulders and looking ready to either just fall over or start shouting. "Where were you?! What the hell was that?!"

In response, Sam just pointed upwards, which earned a snort and an 'I told you so' from Charlie.

"Aliens?" Jack's hands tightened on Sam's shoulders.

"Yeah," she gave him a tight smile. "I'm sorry. I'm alright, don't worry, that sort of thing happens all the time."

"I told you so!" Charlie said again, walking over to the refrigerator and pulling out a soda.

Jack glared at his son. "You be quiet!" Taking a few deep breaths he turned to Sam. "Samantha…you scared me…"

"I'm sorry," Sam took a step closer, reaching out to gently stroke his cheek. "But that sort of thing happens from time to time, I've tried talking to them about it but…they're aliens. They've got their own schedule to be following. I'm ok, really." She smiled. "I might be more than ok."

Jack ignored the tone in her voice and pulled her to him in a tight hug. "That's all that matters...Ok, so now can I finally make dinner without you vanishing behind me?"

"Yeah," Sam rolled her eyes and walked over to the kitchen table. Turning she caught Charlie giving her an odd look. "What?"

"What did you mean?"

"Huh?"

"Just a minute ago, you said you might be 'more than ok'. What's that supposed to mean?"

Sam shook her head. "Nothing."

It wasn't nothing, of course, but if Jack wasn't going to pick up on it then Sam certainly didn't think it was the right time to tell Charlie. It all had to do with the reason the Ancient fighter ship had responded to her, and the reason that Thor was now so eager to meet Jack.

* * *

Monday rolled around and Sam took off from work. Charlie was at Sarah's that week, and Jack was going fishing with some old buddies, so when she finally dragged herself out of bed Sam was greeted with an empty and peacefully quiet house. It was strange, but in an enjoyable sort of way. She took her time making coffee in her bathrobe and pj's, then turning on the news, flipping through channels until she was thoroughly bored.

After she got dressed it took Sam only one quick survey of the house to decide that being a housewife definitely wasn't her thing. So she got dressed and grabbed her car keys, then headed out.

She had barely walked into the drugstore before her cell phone rang. Sam looked down at it and smirked, then tried to sound nonchalant as she answered it. "Hi."

"Hey," in the background behind Jack's voice she could hear the sound of a couple of other men talking, and the faint trickle of water around boat oars. "I just tried calling at home…where are you?"

"Just out running some errands," Sam walked down one of the aisles then stopped, frowning at the array of boxes before her.

"Oh, then hey why don't you pick up some potato salad while you're out. You know, in case I catch anything good. We could do a cookout later."

Sam smiled. "Just me and you?"

"Of course."

She scowled at the shelf now. Why did there have to be so many different ones? What was the difference, anyway? Her pride was too strong to ask the gum-chewing girl behind the counter for help, so Sam picked up one of the boxes and wrinkled her nose at the back of it. She'd only done this once before, and that was so long ago that she couldn't for the life of her remember which type of test she'd used.

"Sam?" She'd forgotten that Jack was still on the line.

"Oh…sorry…" She sighed. "Yeah, that sounds great. I'll swing by the store. Anything else I should get?"

"I just went the other day so I don't think so. There should be a bottle of wine at home, too, so don't bother getting any of that."

"Ok. When will you be home?"

"Shouldn't be too late. I love you."

"Love you too." Sam clicked the phone shut, and sighed down at the box in her hands. Well, it seemed as good as any.

Swinging by the candy aisle to grab a chocolate bar for moral support, Sam took the pregnancy test up to the front counter.

* * *

It was one thing to have a bank of complex Asgard bioscanners tell you that you're pregnant, but Sam found it to be a completely different sensation to be standing in the bathroom and staring down at the tiny pink plus sign. And she was sure it would be yet another experience to her Janet tell her exactly the same thing, but that would probably have more to do with the fact that her friend would be busy gushing over her.

Frowning as though she were puzzling over some complex equation, Sam walked into the living room and sat cross legged on the couch. She hadn't really thought one way or another when it came to having a baby, and now she supposed that her attitude had pretty much been 'if it happens, it happens'. But now that she thought about it, it started to bug her.

When would she request to be removed from active duty? Knowing that she had another life in her could she seriously justify going out and risking her own life, even now before the child was barely developed? What would she do, leave the kid home with Jack while she went running off across the galaxy? Drop the baby off at daycare on her way to a meeting with the Tok'ra? She bit her lip. Plenty of people at the SGC had families. Janet had Cassie after all and managed to be a single mom and still deal with aliens on a daily basis.

Sam found herself smiling. What was she worrying about? This whole thing would probably work out just fine and turn out to be just as wonderful as she had imagined.

Jack returned home in the middle of the afternoon and found Sam sitting on the couch, busily typing away on her laptop while some Discovery Channel special showed on TV.

"Did you catch anything?" She asked, looking up at him.

"Yeah, they're in the kitchen. Couple of nice ones," Jack said, grinning as he leaned over to kiss her. "I'm going to go fire up the grill." He turned.

Sam closed her laptop and stood, nervously clasping her hands and following Jack through to the kitchen. He must have sensed something was off, for he turned and raised an eyebrow at her.

"If you were Charlie I'd probably be asking you what I'm going to find broken."

"It's nothing bad," Sam said quickly. "But I do have to talk to you."

Jack made a face and moved to open up the cooler sitting on the counter. "See, the way you're acting is making that hard to believe."

"I've just never done this before. I'm nervous."

"What's so bad about grilling out?" Jack turned, holding one of the fish up by the tail. "It's a piece of cake. Or fish, in this case."

Sam gave him a flat look that was very reminiscent of Teal'c.

"Sorry." Jack winced, set the fish down and wiped off his hands before reaching out to brush the back of his fingers against Sam's cheek. "What is it? Are you pregnant or something?"

Sam's eyes widened. "How did you…"

"Shot in the dark," Jack shrugged then grinned. "Was I right?"

"Yeah, you were." Sam stepped forward into his embrace, letting her check come to rest in the curve where his neck met his shoulder.

Jack was laughing in a sort of carefree, delighted way that she'd never heard him laugh in before. Wrapping his arms around her body he pulled her closer, if that was possible. "Sam that's wonderful. That's amazing! Oh, sweetheart…"

"I still have to talk to Janet," Sam said, stepping back and taking Jack's hands in hers.

"Right, right." Jack gave her fingers a gentle squeeze, his eyes sparkling. "And they're going to take you off active duty now, right?"

"As soon as I tell them."

"And you're going to tell them tomorrow?"

"Yes, Jack." She laughed, leaning in to kiss him lightly.

Sitting around the dinner table later with candles, grilled fish, wine and the works, there was a definite nervous energy surrounding them. Sam kept biting her lip and looking up, appearing almost ready to bounce out of her seat. Their excited conversations were turning out to be sporadic at best and everything seemed to be drifting back to one particular topic.

Wonder why that could be. Sam rolled her eyes to herself, smirking down into her glass.

"So you know my friend Lou runs that little general store downtown," Jack said, trying yet again to begin a conversation. "They're expanding a bit and he wanted to know if I'd like to come run the sporting goods section."

"Oh?" Sam looked up at him.

"Yeah. I was thinking it might be nice, help get me off my ass during the day…" Jack grinned at her as though rubbing in the fact that all too soon Sam would be stuck at home. "And it would bring in a little extra cash."

"If you really think we'll need it…"

Jack shrugged, looking down at the table. "Well, I was thinking it probably wouldn't hurt to start looking for a bigger house…" He quirked an eyebrow at the huge grin his wife was giving him. "What's that all about?"

"Nothing," Sam reached out to grab his hand. "I'm just really happy."

Jack smiled. "Me too, hun, me too."


End file.
